Mind Over Matter 7 The Stranger
by runa216
Summary: When the Ellimist comes calling, The Animoprhs are surprised to see that Sam will betray them in the name of Illnith. They have to destroy the kandrona to keep thjat from happening. But they don't know Sam has befriended the yeerk. 2 in a set of 4.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1  
  
After Sam's little escapade, we were all on the edge a bit. That day that he was cured, I could feel something wrong. Once again, I couldn't quite place it, but I knew something was wrong. It just didn't feel right. Sam was acting funny. I dismissed it because how had just been through a life altering dilemma.  
  
So I didn't worry about it.  
  
But let me back up just a few days. Five days ago, we learned of a yeerk operation to use a hospital to recruit hosts. It was a good plan, but we decided to bust it up. That was what we Animorphs were here for.  
  
But Sam went ahead and tried to do it himself, without us. We figured he would to as much, but we were still surprised by the result.  
  
When he went in, he was shot in the chest. It knocked him out long enough to have him fall into the yeerk pool they were using for the new hosts. While he was in there, a yeerk managed to slither into his head.  
  
At first, he was in too much shock to do much of anything, he did manage to wake up and try to trick us all. It almost worked, but I managed to slow him down. He got away, but by the end of that day, we caught up to him and managed to subdue him long enough to kill the yeerk in his head.  
  
You see, during this time, the yeerk used Sam to not only blow up a hospital parking lot, but on the same day terrorize the mall, and cause a ruckus in a gun shop. The yeerk almost managed to succeed in using Sam as an ultimately destructive force.  
  
By the time he woke up, the yeerk didn't have enough time to get to a yeerk pool and it died. After that, Sam was pretty angry. He was disappointed that we couldn't contain a single person. He disappeared and was not to be seen since that day.  
  
In fact, that was just earlier in this day. The day my story starts.  
  
I was simply touring the town to blow some time. We had all been almost defeated and it was time to take a break. I know, we were saving the world and such, there was no time to try and take a break. I understand that, but we had no leads, and we sure as hell weren't going back down to the yeerk pool just to destroy a hundred replaceable yeerks.  
  
We were going to take a break. And besides, we had Tobias watching after Sam long enough to make sure he didn't do anything stupid like try and get revenge the hard way and try to single-handedly take out the entire yeerk pool.  
  
That could be disastrous.  
  
Anyways, I was enjoying a nice walk on the town. No real destination, just like going to the mall. Half the time I have no clue what I want, I just browse. That was what I was doing, browsing the town.  
  
I did the usual, I went to get a bite to eat. I went to radio shack I did this and that, wondering what kind of things Ax could to with the many electronics to make my already superior entertainment system even better.  
  
Ax was the guy you needed if you needed something electrical. With the aid of a few plugs and a few hours time, he was able to make a complete electrical system that NASA would envy.  
  
How do I get this money? Well, I used to work, with the aid of Whitney, but I quit there. Ax was an excellent hacker and was able to syphon lots of money from rich people and put it in our accounts.  
  
Whitney was the hacker that made me a fake ID, but she couldn't do that. Bill Gates? Come on, rest assured, he has a pretty impressive firewall, but nothing Ax couldn't get by.  
  
And as for the house, we live in a shack in the woods. We have it divided so I have half and sam has half. Tobias is in the bell tower during the cold or stormy nights, or else he is in his own tree at the end of the meadow that is attached to our house.  
  
I like that tree as well. I climb it and read.  
  
Ax also lived in the clearing, closer to the house. We are a good hour's walk through the forest before we got to any civilization, like Cassie's barn.  
  
Inside the house, me and sam each have our own halves. There is no real border, though. It is one open room. The door on one wall, the kitchen and stuff on the opposing wall. Me and sam each had a room on the left and right wall. In it we have our bed, out dressers, and our entertainment systems.  
  
Like I said, Ax worked with the electrical supplies to make us have only the best. Our computers had one terabyte shared between the two, and easily the fastest internet connections known to man.  
  
We each had our own TV, VCR, DVD, and video game. I had a PS2 and Sam had an X-Box. We often debated which was better.  
  
But I guess it didn't matter. It was all in fun.  
  
I was at radio shack seeing if there was a stereo I liked. I Was looking to get one so big it would keep us both happy. I guess that wouldn't be a goo idea, though. If hunters or anyone near heard us, we were junked.  
  
I scrapped that idea and simply decided to consider portable CD players. That would be easier to live with, but not as fun when we were actually at home. Oh well, you win some, you lose some.  
  
I did eventually pick a CD player I liked. It was actually an MP3 player. Well, an Mp3 disc player. I Thought that was better than actual MP3 any day, but that's my opinion.  
  
I bought it with my bank card and was off. Sm has one of my bank cards, but I was cautious. You never know what a psycho could do, and I may at any time need that.  
  
I continued to walk down the street and towards the mall, the place where all this started, with the crashed and mortally wounded andalite prince named Elfangor....  
  
But I won't go into that. I bet you have heard it a million times before. Probably getting sick of it. But that was where it started, anyway.  
  
I didn't have any CD's, so I couldn't listen to it on the way. And the worst part was that now that I had made a purchase, I had to walk home instead of morphing. It was a pain, and seriously don't ask how we got everything in the house there. Let's just leave it at, Sam was very tired that day, and so was I.  
  
But meanwhile, I was thinking of a different way to hurt the yeerks. I know, I wanted to rest, but only long enough to formulate a plan of attack. We couldn't be waiting in the shadows all the time, waiting for the yeerks to make the next move. I personally wanted a first strike.  
  
But don't get me wrong, I don't want open war, we would lose in the course of a day.  
  
Cassie would say the opposite. She would probably say that we needed to do as little as we could. We didn't need to start fights like they did. That would make us no better than they were.  
  
I, of course, would have to argue. I think that we were here first, and even though we are far from a perfect species, this is our planet. They are invading, we have the right to defend ourselves.  
  
Rachel and Sam both agree. Jake and Marco tend to stay out of out arguments. They were the main thinkers. Jake was the all round boss. And Marco is his right hand tactician. The two of them were smart together.  
  
Though Sam and Whitney seemed to be a good pair as well. Sam was able to plot and formulate without remorse to the infinite degree, and Whit was there to point out details and add a little sensitivity to the plots Sam devised.  
  
Ax, on the other hand, was immune to the whole concept. He thought that this was his war too. It isn't his planet so I would have to disagree, but I would rather have his kind on our side than against us.  
  
Tobias was also a thinker. Whether he was thinking strategy or lonesome thoughts, we didn't know. Tobias happened to be a good friend of mine, but we had actually grown apart a bit. He was more interested in those in society. Maybe it was a way to get back to reality.  
  
Who knows. 


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2  
  
And thus began my odd day. When I went to the mall, I got this feeling, like I always do when I am nervous. It was that feeling that said, get out.  
  
But I didn't leave, I wanted to get another PS2 game. I had my sights on the game Ratchet and Clank. I heard that was a great game and now it was cheap, like 20 dollars, so I was destined to buy it now.  
  
I headed immediately to the electronics section, my favourite. I had so many things there I wanted. I even had the money to blow now. Couldn't say no to that.  
  
When I got there, I could see people seemed to be bothered by something. I didn't know what, they weren't staring at me, so that was a good sign.  
  
So I asked for some help getting my game, and they did. I got it and paid for it and everything, but then it seemed evident that they wanted me gone. Why, I didn't know. But I left. I made my way to the main mall, the one with all the stores and the food court.  
  
I was going to browse some more, when something odd happened. I saw someone try sand get away with a purse. That was so old fashioned, but then again, people were stupid.  
  
To top it all off, he was coming right at me. At this point, I had two decisions. I could either do the smart thing and stay out of it, or I would try to stop the guy...because I was bored. Well, I decided that if he got close enough, I would stop him. But only if he got within arms reach.  
  
And sure enough, he got really close to me, so close in fact, that he hit me, shoulder on shoulder. I'll admit, I get mad easy, and this was no exception. In a fraction of a second, I spun around, grabbing his collar. He stoped dead in his tracks, stopped by only his neck.  
  
I pulled him back, landing the back of his neck on a place on my knee. I let go of his collar and grabbed his throat. I squeezed. "You are going to give me that, right now." I said slowly. He didn't give it back, in fact, I had to squeeze harder.  
  
Finally, he gave me the purse and I let go. He walked away, clutching his throat.  
  
I turned around to walk back to the screaming woman. She was yelling at the guy who stole her purse, she obviously didn't see what I was doing.  
  
"Shut up!" I said as soon as I seen her. "I have your Goddamned purse!" I threw it at her. She stared at me for a minute, not even a thank you.  
  
Instead, she pointed a finger of accusation. "You s-s-s-stole my purse. And now you are pretending to give it back in hopes of money! Damn you!" She screamed. "Someone get this boy, he is a thief!"  
  
I would have argued, but I could tell this was a stubborn bitch, so I left it alone. So I turned into the crowd and ran. I hated running, but I had to. The mall rent-a-cops were after me. Damn, I hated people.  
  
But why would she say that? I mean, seriously, I did her a favour. Was I wearing the same clothes as the guy? Did I look the same? I conjured up the thought of what he looked like. Then I realized I was in a my Josh morph.  
  
Come to think of it, I think that was the guy, and he was wearing all black. The guy I morphed was the guy who had me framed! Man, that was quite the coincidence.  
  
I demorphed while I was in the crowd and slowed down, I didn't need an audience. I decided to head for the nearest exit.  
  
Man, that was close. I was lucky enough to not have anyone follow me. But I was safe and sound with my game and CD player.  
  
So I made my way downtown. I decided to get something for someone. In fact, I think I would hit the first dollar store I could find. I didn't know uptown very much, I lived for the most part on the outskirts and didn't go into town. Marco was the uptown guy, he lived in an apartment not too far away. But he wouldn't be home yet.  
  
I was going to the dollar store because I wanted pipe cleaners. A lot of them. I make pipe cleaner figures with them. Eight inch tall, thick figurines. They are good decorations, if you ask me.  
  
So I went in and bought the pipe cleaners. I had like three hundred by the time I was done, of all colours of the rainbow. Then I left.  
  
I was unfortunate enough to be right in front of a car chase. I saw a car go by and three cruisers were chasing it. I was going to go that way, but I guess I didn't want to be caught up in that, there were hundreds of people on that side of the road and I didn't like people.  
  
So I went the other way instead. I was just browsing, anyway. So I walked the other way. It wasn't a big deal.  
  
Five minutes later, when I got to the next intersection, there was a car crash, probably the same car chase. They must have went around the block and back to there. Odd. There was yellow tape and stuff covering two of the four roads. This left me one choice to move.  
  
I moved in that direction.  
  
The traffic was really bad in that time of day. Especially at the time it was. So I simply went with the flow and reached another intersection. Wait a second, if the traffic was bad, then how could there be a car chase, especially one that made it so far so fast?  
  
I eventually stopped to see what was going on. Sometimes I just like to observe what is going on. Take in the scenery.  
  
But this time, I noticed something. A small girl in all black was staring at me. Darting her eyes in a certain direction. I looked in that direction, and there was nothing there. When I looked back, nobody was there.  
  
I walked a bit, weaving through people to try to find her again. I found that same girl staring at me. She was a little off to the side. She didn't look like she was young, or old. Poor, or rich. She was unphased by the torrent of people. Once again, she darted her eyes down the road, and I looked again. Still, nothing was there.  
  
I was getting curious, somebody wanted me to go somewhere, but didn't want me to know who she was. Oh well, I continued to follow her. Curiosity killed the cat....no, wait, fortune favours the bold.  
  
I saw her go into an alleyway and I followed, just for kicks. When I got to the alley, she was gone. Somehow I figured as much. But I still went down the alley.  
  
It was one of those alleys that was simply between two buildings and really just was a connecting area between two streets. I could see the cars and people going by. And in the midst of all the people, I saw the girl in the curb. I began to walk faster. I didn't know what was going on, but I was scared.  
  
Maybe I was crazy, but I Was beginning to think this shadowy figure was just a figment of my imagination. Maybe I Was losing it. Had the war already began to take it's toll? I was mesmerized by a figure that could in no way be there, logic told me that. But I was magically attracted to her, and I didn't know why.  
  
Usually, I would dismiss such things as a girl who was able to tell who I was, it seemed like it wasn't real. I was confused. Did she know who I was? If so, that could be bad.  
  
I stopped in the alley, wondering whether or not following her was safe. I eventually began to suspect this wasn't real.  
  
I was about to turn around and go on my way when the little girl turned around and walked into traffic.  
  
I hesitated, and I watched her get hit by a car. She went flying and was dead instantly.  
  
I ran towards the scene and tried to push past the crowd. I needed to see what was going on. People and cars had both stopped and were now investigating this stupid little girl.  
  
I could se everything, everywhere stop, except for me. I looked up and around, wondering what was wrong. It was stopped long enough to see a man in the crowd who had slipped away and was now walking towards the campus behind him.  
  
Then time started back up again. I was preoccupied by this new development and watched the guy walk toward one of the sheds in the middle of nowhere. He looked around nervously and used a key to open the door and go in.  
  
Meanwhile, all around me the people were clamouring around the accident, but I was now more intrigued by this guy.  
  
Why had time stopped to let me see that? How had time stopped? Somehow I knew I would figure it out soon enough.  
  
Instead of watching over the little girl (which would have been more important, but for some reason I was now drawn to that guy.) And I used the distraction to walk across the road and investigate the shed.  
  
I cautiously opened it and was surprised to see it wasn't locked. I walked in. It was what appeared to be a tool shed. But at the end, there was a door. It was still partially opened, so I opened it and heard the sound of people screaming, the kind of sound that nightmares are made of.  
  
But it was all faint, in the distance. My friends, I think I found a hidden entrance. 


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3  
  
later that day, I went home to see that Sam wasn't there. Of course he wasn't. He said he was going away for a while, he had just been traumatized. Then again, Sam doesn't get traumatized, but at the same time, he was never infected by a yeerk.  
  
I dismissed it and thought instead about my discovery. I considered what we could do.  
  
At first, I thought we could get Sam to make us a bomb and blow it up, after all it wasn't like we needed to go through a huge building a security to get to the entrance. But that wouldn't work, Sam was nowhere to be found.  
  
Then I considered just using the weapons we had stored, but then I realized that in the end, any attack on the yeerk pool would be catastrophic. They could react in ways that we were unprepared for.  
  
So, instead of trying to carry the entire burden myself, I got Tobias and Ax together to tell everyone to get together the following morning.  
  
Tobias said he was unable to find Whitney, which wasn't a big deal. Knowing that family, they were probably just out to see a movie or something.  
  
So we told Rachel to get her the following morning before she came to the meeting, there was no problem there. Not at first.  
  
But the next morning, we were all waiting at the barn when Rachel finally made it there. She seemed confused and almost nervous.  
  
"Is Whitney here?" She asked.  
  
"No, why?" Jake said. He was already trying to figure things out. I could practically feel the wheels inside his head running. Through this small bit of info, he was already producing false theories and possibilities.  
  
"Well, I went to her house, and she wasn't home. Her parents were, but she wasn't." Rachel said. "And when I asked where she was, they acted like they didn't know."  
  
"No big deal." Cassie said. "You know the way sam and Whitney feel about each other. Sam probably made Whitney go on the vacation with him." She suggested.  
  
{Makes sense.} Tobias said from beside me in the rafters.  
  
But Rachel shot down that possibility. "No, that can't be it. I asked where they were last night and she aid they were at the school. At a sharing meeting." We all stopped.  
  
"S-s-s-s-sharing?" Marco stuttered. He was kinda joking, but this could very well be a serious matter.  
  
"Yeah, they said the school was endorsing the sharing and everybody was there. She then offered to take me next time the family went." Rachel said.  
  
We all shuddered.  
  
"So, you're saying that the school is now endorsing the sharing?" Jake asked.  
  
"Well, not exactly. Mrs. Dickson said that it was an advertising campaign for the guy running for mayor. Said something about joining all the different groups in town or something." Rachel said.  
  
{What does this all mean?} Ax asked inquisitively.  
  
"Ax, the sharing is what the yeerks are using to recruit new members." I said simply.  
  
{Members?} he was puzzled.  
  
But Marco took over for me. "In our society, people feel the need to be part of something, to fit in. So we have made organized groups that meet at certain times to get together and have fun. The yeerks have manipulated people high enough in our society to create such a group that pretty much makes them accept a yeerk in their head to be one in the crowd." It was an odd way of putting it, but he was right.  
  
{That's Preposterous!} Ax cried. {who would voluntarily allow such a thing?} he was clearly outraged.  
  
"Ax, to put it simply, people don't even know what a yeerk is. For all we know, the yeerks could be telling the people it is an implant to improve their intelligence or something. People are ignorant and desperate, and will do anything to fit in." I said, but then added, "just like Marco said."  
  
Marco smiled a bit. "Yep, people don't even know you exist, Ax."  
  
{But I have seen images of my kind in your archives on the computers.} Ax said. {I used your computers to investigate some human culture.}  
  
{Ax man, that was the internet.} Tobias said dryly. {And that site you were on was a fairy tale site. Those are myths, legends. Our fiction tells of creatures called centaurs that look like you.} He explained.  
  
{Ah, I see. So your people truly are blind.}  
  
"Yeah, that is it." I said. Jeez, you would wonder how Ax could have made it this far. We have told him th at many times.  
  
But I saw Jake with his head in his hands, shaking it slowly. "People, can we get back to reality?" He was exasperated and needed us to get back on task. "We kind of have the issue of missing Whitney."  
  
Oh, right. That was the important thing now.  
  
"Umm, so how are we going to go about finding her?" Cassie asked as she put a cage back up on a shelf. It was her job to keep the place clean and did it even when we had meetings.  
  
Marco sighed. "Guys, come on. I know you are all thinking it, but I am going to be the first to say it. We have to put two and two together."  
  
But Rachel actually finished what he was going to say. "Whitney is said to have been at a sharing meeting last night, and now her mom is pretending to not know where she is. Knowing Whitney, she would fight in any way possible." She let it sink in.  
  
We all winced. We all knew what that meant. I hate to spell it out for you, but I think Whitney was at a sharing meeting. We all know what happened at sharing meetings. She probably fought and is now down at the yeerk pool waiting for a fresh one.  
  
"We need to go down there." I said with conviction. "There is no way I am letting her be taken. I will not let this war end so early."  
  
"Agreed." Rachel said instantly.  
  
Cassie and Tobias were quick to agree. But Jake and Marco both stayed silent.  
  
"Jake, Marco." I said. "Don't you think we need to go down there?"  
  
Marco sighed. "Gordon, man, I don't think that is a risk we are ready to take. If she has been taken already, then the yeerk will know that we would come down to save her. They have probably upped the defenses." Marco was reluctant to write someone off, but unfortunately, it looked like it was right.  
  
Then Jake spoke up. "If we do go, we need to go in a way that Whitney wouldn't expect. And be ready to retreat to the mountains." Jake said. "I will do anything to make sure we are safe."  
  
"I have an idea." I said.  
  
"What?" Marco asked. "and it better be good."  
  
"It is the reason we are here, Marco. I only called this meeting because I found a way to the yeerk pool."  
  
I saw a line of blank stares. "Thank god you said something, I almost didn't think of that. I figured we would go in through the school." Rachel said.  
  
"Umm, that wouldn't work, Rachel. The school is closed for the day off, and they sealed that entrance up long ago." Jake said.  
  
{Well, either way, I am staying out of this one.} Tobias said.  
  
{Shall we go now?} Ax asked urgently. We all turned and walked out to morph to our respective raptor morphs.  
  
So we were going, but how? I mean seriously, what way would we go that the real Whitney wouldn't expect? And how would we do anything that would help save us, short of killing Whitney?  
  
All this seemed to blind my normal ability to figure out the truth, and I wondered why so many things went looked over, like the timing, and the truth. So many things were clouded, even that in which only I would know.  
  
Like the blind and utter truth. 


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4  
  
We flew to town and I led the way. We morphed in that alleyway and did our thing. We did look kind of grubby. Ax had to go from hawk to andalite to human to soften the blow.  
  
We ended up going in as roaches. Gross, I know, but it had to e done. We were at the college campus within the hour.  
  
We figured it would be best to look like we were a bunch of kids just hanging out on the street, grubby kids. From there we would slowly make our way to the shed, which was probably locked. It was before when I first saw the guy open it.  
  
We were lucky, and the door was unlocked. We all hustled in and stood there in the crowded shed. Ax being in there really made it crowded. We had to wait for him to demorph before we could go on.  
  
"Alright, we need to get this thing going." Jake said as soon as ax was finished. He rubbed his hands together.  
  
"Rachel, to the roach morph!" Marco said.  
  
I rolled my eyes. "Marco, I appreciate you trying to lighten the mood, but we need you to put your mind to the task at hand right now." I said. He looked almost hurt.  
  
{Umm, guys, you need to start morphing soon.} Tobias warned. {there is a guy that seems to be interested in the shed.}  
  
"Let's go." Jake said.  
  
{Hurry, he is almost there!} Tobias updated urgently.  
  
{How close?} I asked. I had this weird thing to be able to use thought speak outside morph. Only I could do it.  
  
{Like from the street to the shed. About one hundred feet. He is still on the sidewalk but he is glancing at the shack nervously.}  
  
{Thanks. We are on the way, you won't be able to talk much longer.} I informed him.  
  
But at this time, the others were already half morphed. Cassie was fully morphed. I opened the door in the back and went in. "Come on!" I urged the rest of the group, those one foot tall monstrosities that were non yet done.  
  
{Morph, you idiot!} Marco hissed. He was right, but I had a job to do.  
  
{Hurry up!} Jake urged.  
  
"Just a second!" I said hurriedly. "Here." I grabbed one at a time and put them on the stairs of the corridor behind me.  
  
{Hey!} Rachel cried.  
  
{Shut up.} I said. As soon as I got them on the stairs behind me, I started to close the door and morph to cockroach.  
  
{He is definitely interested!} Tobias said. {He has diverted course and is now only like twenty five feet away! I hope you have morphed.}  
  
{Most of us are OK.} Cassie said. {Gordon is still morphing.}  
  
But I was fast. In the time it took that guy to walk twenty feet, I finished my morph. As soon as I finished, I could vaguely hear the sound of a door first.  
  
{On the walls, we don't want him stepping on us if he comes in here.} Jake advised. And he was right, the last thing we needed was to be squished. We all did what we were told and tried to climb the walls as best we could. It was surprisingly easy.  
  
{Everyone safe?} Tobias asked, still worried about us.  
  
The guy walked in the door and walked right past us and down the corridor. I could feel the vibrations as he moved and stomped down the stairs.  
  
{We are safe.} Ax confirmed. {The human had ignored us and is going down to the yeerk pool.}  
  
{Good, because he seemed to be in there a long time.} Tobias said. {Anyway, if you are all in the corridor now, then I will lose contact soon. I will be peeling off.}  
  
{Bye Tobias.} Rachel called.  
  
{So, let's go.} Jake said.  
  
And we were off, following the big feet. I could still feel the thumping off in the distance. Over, down, over, down, over, down. That was the pattern I followed as I crawled down the steps.  
  
After many more steps, we finally hit the ground, and Marco pointed out something we had all overlooked.  
  
{What do we do if someone tries to step on us? I mean, there are so many people here, what are the chances of not one of them seeing us?}  
  
Rachel answered, {Let's just hope that doesn't happen.}  
  
{We can't take that chance.} Jake said. {We need to find a place to demorph.}  
  
{But where?} Cassie asked. {Where here would we demorph? I think there is a flaw in the plan.}  
  
{But we have to do this.} I urged. {It is Whitney, and I will go on even if you leave.}  
  
{I know, but I cant think of a way to demorph. For now, stay hidden in the corners.} Jake advised.  
  
So we all moved into the corner of the dirt and waited, having no clue what we were going to do. We just kind of huddled, thinking of things to do.  
  
Then, out of nowhere, Marco came out with, {Toilets!}  
  
{Huh?} we all asked.  
  
But he explained. {A place this big must host people a good portion of the day, and people get hungry. That leads to restaurants, which leads to bathrooms. If we can get to a bathroom, we can demorph!} he was excited by the idea, but it may work.  
  
{Alright, we will look for a restaurant nearby. We can see relatively well with these eyes, and w can figure it out. Rest assured, we don't want to be squished, so don't be seen.} Jake said.  
  
We moved on along the side until we found something worth checking out. It was a building. And it had interesting smells coming out from it.  
  
{I guess that is our best bet.} Marco said. Sure enough, we all went to investigate. Around the side and into the front door. There weren't many people around. I could tell by the lack ov vibrations.  
  
{Stay close to the walls.} Jake advised. And we did.  
  
But then I felt an odd feeling. It was like a hundred little feet hitting the ground in quick succession. It was like a mini earthquake to my roach body. {Do you feel that?} I asked.  
  
But nobody got to answer. In the flash of an instant, I could feel a giant slimy thing stick on my back. It was red, and covered in a sort of goo.  
  
In an instant, the thing had me glued and was pulling me off the ground. I flailed as I was put upside down and flung up.  
  
But then I felt as if I was able to go on describing symptoms so long. And as soon as I noticed this rather odd truth, I fell from the red tape and landed on the ground. I then noticed I was growing. I was demorphing, but not on purpose.  
  
{Umm, guys.} Marco said.  
  
{What is going on here?} Cassie asked.  
  
{I don't know, but it feels like deja vu somehow.} I said. And it did. It reminded me of the kid in the street thing.  
  
And yet we continued demorphing.  
  
{This is seriously not right.} Jake said.  
  
{Maybe the yeerks were able to make some sort of anti-morphing thing.....} Rachel trailed off, terrorized by the possibility.  
  
{Never!} Ax shouted, almost as scared as Rachel. {The yeerks never invent, they steal.} he seemed defensive to me.  
  
{That is not the issue, whether they invented it or not. The point is that we are all demorphing and we don't want to.} Jake pointed out.  
  
{there must be some sort of higher entity at work here.} Ax said.  
  
I couldn't help but laugh. {Right, God is here to sve us from the yeerks.} I laughed again.  
  
But by then we were all completely demorphed. Odd, considering Cassie and I were such fast morphers.  
  
I was scared of who might see us but what we saw astonished us all. It was like we were living in a living picture. Everything was still, as in not moving.  
  
"Odd." Rachel said.  
  
I looked around. And yes, it was odd. Everywhere I looked, things were hanging in suspended animation. Burgers and pizza both held in the mouth, not moving or chewing. A spilled drink hanging in a bubble off the side of the table. There was a grand total of like three people in the room.  
  
"Really odd." Cassie agreed.  
  
"Well, we might as well take the time to get out of here." Jake suggested. I didn't need to be told twice.  
  
But as soon as we exited the restaurant, we were shocked to see three things moving amidst all the slate of stillness.  
  
One of them jumped up and waved. "Took you long enough!" Whitney yelled.  
  
Beside her, a normal sized guy in a black leather trench-coat nudged her. "Shush, they can see us." Sam said. The third figure just stood there.  
  
The group of us all just kind of gravitated towards them. We were more surprised to see who the third person was.  
  
As I got closer, I could see it was a medium kid with rustled, dirty blonde hair.  
  
I could see Rachel's eyes widen. "Tobias!" She shouted as she ran towards him. Tobias jumped back and put his hands to the side like he was pushing up off nothing. This unexpected movement made him land on his ass.  
  
"Jeez, bird boy. We aren't in wing-land anymore" Sam said as he looked at him and rolled his eyes. Rachel helped him get back up on his feet, he looked a bit embarrassed.  
  
"What is going on here?" Marco asked suspiciously.  
  
"He will be here soon, I am sure of it." Whitney assured us.  
  
"But you're here!" Rachel marvelled. "And you are not in danger!"  
  
"No, I am quite alright." She said. "Just wait." which cleared up the whitney problem, we now had other things to do.  
  
And of course, a few seconds later, I felt as if the world was opening around us. Like the area was a photograph and it was being cut open from behind.  
  
Unfortunately, this feeling gave me an overwhelming feeling of nausea and my eyes rolled back in my head and I fell out of consciousness.  
  
The last thing I said before I fell asleep. "Toomin?" I asked as I slipped into a dream-like state. I had no clue why I said it. 


	5. Chapter 5 Whitney

Chapter 5 (Whitney)  
  
After the many recent events, being in the mountains was pretty nice.  
  
The peaceful serenity of everlasting freedom was all around us. Call me a nature nut, but there is little better than just sleeping under the stars and getting away from all the rude, superficial ignorant people.  
  
And with Sam, no less. Despite his uncaring and power driven attitude, he was actually a pretty sensitive and gentle guy. To the right people.  
  
Cooking was interesting, we had deli sandwiches and that was about it. But that was fine, it was all we needed.  
  
Though after his big announcement, I was kinda feeling unnerved. It was disturbing to know that he would do such a thing. And it bothered me even more that he would lie about it. But looking at it from his point of view, I guess it was alright.  
  
I trust his judgement, and he always has reasons, even if he won't admit it. And even though I was reluctant, I felt the need to believe his story. Especially when he actually let the yeerk out and put him back in.  
  
That was the act that made me believe him. If the yeerk was willing to come out, and Sam was willing to put him back in, who was I to say what was right and wrong.  
  
The enemy of the enemy is an ally, right. Sam believed so and was willing to give up freedom for little bursts long enough to achieve a common goal. And I guess he thought it would work. And like I said, I trust Sam's judgement.  
  
And I kissed him knowing this.  
  
Either way, we were doing what people vacationing do. We were relaxing. Not doing much more than laying down and staring at the clouds.  
  
Call that corny, but I was tired. We had been fighting aliens for months now, and we needed a break, now was as good a time as any, we had no leads, and no immediate reason to get into a fight, not yet, anyway.  
  
During one of our little sleep-daydreams, I noticed a cloud that looked like it was smiling at me. Then it winked.  
  
I laughed a bit, realizing that my imagination got the better of me. It does that a lot. But then it did it again. I must really be sleepy.  
  
"Man, this is nice. No people, and we are all alone." Sam said. With no hint of innuendo. He was a gentleman that way. I smiled at the thought of sam opening doors for me and kissing my hand. I laughed.  
  
"I know." I said.  
  
We both laid back down and stared at the clouds some more. There wasn't much else to do. Not much else I wanted to do.  
  
"My imagination is going wild. I could have swore I just saw a cloud smile at me." Sam said. I sat up.  
  
"Smile?" I asked, shocked. It was really weird. I was acting all paranoid, even though it was nothing.  
  
Sam got up too. He grabbed my shoulders. "They are clouds, whit. They don't smile, and I am not insane." He assured. Then he laughed.  
  
But I had seen a cloud wink. "Sam, I saw the same thing." I said. "You are not crazy."  
  
He stared at me. "Are you sure?" He asked, but then I saw the sky open up. Like a ripple, but it was real.  
  
Before we had time to make an assumptions, a figure appeared in front of us. The ripple in the sky stopped.  
  
This figure was about five feet tall, had long, grey hair, and had eyes that looked like they had entire galaxies in them. He was small and weak looking, but at the same time had a feel about him that gave him power. Surrounding him was a cloud of blue smoke.  
  
"Hello." It said. In plain and simple English.  
  
I was completely dumbfounded, but I could see that it wasn't here to harm us. Here we were, enjoying a peaceful vacation, and yet another alien thing was chasing us. I was about to start throwing out accusations. Sam drew his blade.  
  
"Calm down, I am not here to fight. I am here to show you the truth." It said. Then I was transported to a deep cavern with people all around. It took me a few seconds to realize it was the yeerk pool.  
  
I turned around to see that Sam had put his coat over his head. Definitely the need to be careful here. But I noticed something was wrong as soon as I actually payed attention.  
  
Everything around me was completely motionless. The people, the air even seemed like it was dead. Everything was frozen solid except one boy.  
  
Sam and I both walked up to him. At first I didn't know who he was, but the closer I got the better Idea I had as to who he was. I hadn't seen him much before, but I was now sure. It was Tobias, in his original form, before becoming a hawk.  
  
"Tobias?" I asked.  
  
He shrugged his shoulders. "Yep, I guess." he didn't seem very optimistic.  
  
But I showed his body off. "But look at you, isn't this great?" I marvelled.  
  
He shrugged his shoulders and was about to make some sort of uncaring comment when six of the Animorphs came barrelling out of the nearest restaurant. They all looked at us and came over to see who we were.  
  
They looked around confused for a while, but eventually saw we were the only ones not still.  
  
"Tobias?" Rachel cried as she ran over. The others all kind of stayed back, coming in slowly.  
  
But Tobias, instead, started to 'flap' his arms. It must have been a natural reaction to being scared in the wild, which I would have understood. He did seem embarrassed though.  
  
"Jeez, bird boy. We aren't in wing-land anymore." Sam said jokingly. I couldn't help but to laugh. He said it like Dorothy. "Toto, I don't think we are in Kansas anymore."  
  
Marco looked around. "What is going on here?" He asked.  
  
"He will be here soon, I am sure of it." I said.  
  
But Rachel was still adoring the fact that Tobias was here, in human form. "But you are here, and you are not in danger!" Rachel said.  
  
"No, we are quite alright." I said. "Just wait."  
  
And no less, a few seconds later the world opened up in front of us, like it did on the mountain. The world rippled, and out popped the man.  
  
But Gordon. For some reason, muttered the word 'Toomin' and collapsed. I didn't know what to think of it, but nobody seemed scared. Actually, I am lying. The rest of the Animorphs were all scared out of their pants. They didn't seem like they were up to this creature, whatever it was.  
  
"Don't worry, it's not here to hurt us." I assured. Sam let out a quiet laugh.  
  
"Are you sure?" Jake asked.  
  
"She is sure, and correct she is." The thing said.  
  
{Ellimist.} Ax hissed. I think he knew what was going on, but I sue as hell didn't. I didn't want to show it, though. I was confused and scared, but I didn't let it show. I was more curious than anything else.  
  
"Yes, I am what you may call Ellimist." He said. "I understand you do not know what I am or why I am here, but rest assured, I am not here to harm you. I am here to offer you an escape."  
  
{Do not listen to him, prince Jake.} Ax advised. {The Ellimist is a conniving, lying intervening creature, and can not be trusted.} It wasn't like Ax to be that commanding.  
  
But Jake raised a hand and silenced him. Not to be rude, just to try and get some info out of this 'Ellimist' creature. "What do you want?" Jake asked.  
  
The Ellimist spread his weak, frail hands. "I want to offer you an easy way out." He said. 


	6. Chapter 6 Whitney

Chapter 6  
  
What? An easy way out? How was that possible?  
  
I tried to ignore the millions of questions floating around in my mind and ask the important things.  
  
"How could you do that?" I asked. I was dumbfounded by this creature. First it popped out of thin air and froze everything, but now it is claiming to have a ride out? Something smelled wrong here.  
  
But instead, Ax answered. {The Ellimist is a near omnipotent power, capable of god-like feats. It can change past, future, and present. They are all powerful.} he said resentfully.  
  
"So if I asked, you could change that D I got in math last week?" Marco asked hopefully, but with a foolish hint in his voice. That was Marco, always trying to keep the more humourous side in life.  
  
"I do love life, and I wish to help you." the Ellimist explained. "Though I do not believe a bad mark on a test is high priority, Marco." It said.  
  
Marco got a surprised look on his face, like it knows my name. I was thinking, if it could supposedly alter the past, then it could likely see into our pasts.  
  
But I couldn't help but ask. "Why us?" I said simply. "What makes us so important. Ax here says you are omnipotent, which makes me believe you are also omniscient. So why us, out of the entire galaxy?"  
  
The creature laughed. A felling that we could all feel in our very bones. "Ah yes. Before answering your questions, I will awaken your friend here." He pointed at Gordon's collapsed body.  
  
Gordon got up slowly and groaned. "Oh, man, what happened?" He asked as he grabbed his head. He stumbled around and got to his feet.  
  
"Good morning." Sam said.  
  
But the Ellimist continued. "Now that you are all awake, I will tell you my story." Gordon was not completely awake, but he still did his best to listen. "Human beings are an endangered species. You may not see it, but being able to see the world without time, I can see the future. It isn't pretty, not for humans."  
  
"What exactly are you getting at?" Jake asked, trying to confirm what we were all thinking.  
  
Th Ellimist shook his head slowly. "The yeerks are here on earth, and you can't actually expect to win against them, even if you do rally all of earth's forces." He said simply. "You will fall, and I plan on making sure it doesn't go that simply."  
  
"That isn't true." Gordon said. "We will win."  
  
The Ellimist laughed again. It was weird being able to feel his emotions. "Humans. Let me show you something."  
  
Almost instantly, we were transported from the yeerk pool into a tropical rainforest. All around us was two hundred foot tall trees. And ferns all around us. It was beautiful.  
  
The Ellimist's physical form was gone. ALL THIS, AND HUMANS NO LONGER APPRECIATE IT, BUT I DO. The Ellimist said in a voice. He gave us a few more minutes to enjoy the calling birds, the buzzing bugs, and the general beauty of a rain forest.  
  
Once again, we were transported to a tropical reef. But we were underwater and could still breathe, like the world around us was a hologram. Above us, schools of fish swam past us.  
  
ONE OF THE MOST DIVERS PLANETS IN THE ENTIRE GALAXY. I WOULD HATE TO SEE THAT GO. He said in his everywhere-voice again.  
  
Then we were teleported, for a third time. This time to a snowy mountainside. The wind was whipping gusts of snow around all over, but I couldn't feel it. Everyone looked around cautiously.  
  
BUT THE YEERKS DO NOT SEE IT THIS WAY. THEY WISH TO ENSLAVE AND TAKE OVER. THIS IS ALL THAT THEY SEE.  
  
We suddenly found ourselves in the middle of a factory. All around us were machines moving, carrying packages in neat lines, going from one machine to another.  
  
The only problem was that the packages were humans. Standing upright humans, all in an assembly line, not unlike an army line. The Ellimist was trying to say we were nothing more than vehicles for yeerks, and he was right.  
  
THIS IS ALL YOU PEOPLE ARE TO THEM.  
  
Then we were transported to a mine in the middle of the jungle again. I could see machines working, tearing bits of rock and metals from the sides. Transporting them. To one end to another.  
  
And if that wasn't bad enough, the jungle around was being burnt and logged. It was the kind of hell I never wanted to see myself.  
  
PLANET EARTH IS NOTHING MORE THAN A PIRATE YEERK'S DREAM. ALL THE HOSTS THEY CAN HANDLE, AND MANY SUPPLIES TO FUEL THEIR WAR WITH THE ANDALITES. He said. I could see Ax clench his fists at this. ALL THIS FOR THE YEERKS.  
  
We were transported to a lovely grassy meadow. All around us were forests and mountains. It was beautiful. But there was one difference. I could actually smell the air this time. It actually smelled clean.  
  
YOU COULD CALL ME A NATURALIST, BUT I WANTED TO PRESERVE A PORTION OF THIS WORLD, SINCE IN A FEW YEARS IT WILL BE NO MORE.  
  
"And how do you plan on doing that?" Cassie asked.  
  
THE ENVIRONMENT YOU ARE IN NOW IS REAL. IT IS NOT EARTH, BUT VERY SIMILAR. MY OFFER IS SIMPLE. GIVE UP THIS SILLY, POINTLESS WAR, AND LIVE ON A NEW PLANET, YOU CAN REBUILD YOUR WORLD WHERE THE YEERKS CANNOT TOUCH IT.  
  
"And if you can make a new planet, and you don't want the yeerks here, then why can't you just get rid of them from our planet?" Marco asked.  
  
THAT IS NOT WITHIN MY LIMITS. He said simply. WHAT I AM PROPOSING IS THAT YOU ALL, WITH YOUR FAMILIES AND FRIENDS, GO TO LIVE HERE ON THIS PLANET, AWAY FROM WAY AND INEVITABLE DOOM.  
  
We were back at the yeerk pool, amongst the frozen figures, and ghostly silence. But then the Ellimist came back in a true form.  
  
We were all looking around blindly, not knowing what to make of all this. But I found myself staring at Jake and Gordon, who had their eyes transfixed on something in the distance. I turned around, wondering myself what it was.  
  
But I only saw the normal things. The hork bajir guards, the human hosts, the yeerk pool, the drop-shaft. The usual yeerk pool elements.  
  
But Jake saw something else. I saw a glint in his eye, like he was planning something. The gears in his mind were grinding like they do so often.  
  
But before I had a chance to ask him about it, the Ellimist spoke again. "Do you accept my generous offer?" He asked.  
  
Nobody knew what to say at first. We all kind of looked around, blankly. "I am not sure if this is the right time to ask us." Rachel said, amongst the silence.  
  
"Now is the only time. You are about to die in the body of the taxxon, so it is now or never." the Ellimist said simply. Unfortunately, that brought them back to reality. Apparently they were in a tight spot.  
  
But Jake smiled. I didn't know what he was up to, and I didn't want to know, but I was sure it was good. I knew I was going to be gone when this was over anyway. "Ellimist, can we meet again? I believe this is not the time to be discussing this issue. Can you give us a day to figure it out?" He asked.  
  
"Jake, man, are you sure that is a good idea? I mean, this guy is offering to help, and we may not live to see tomorrow." Marco said simply.  
  
Jake nodded. "I know, but we need to take some chances."  
  
Then the Ellimist disappeared in a wisp of smoke. IF YOU LIVE, I WILL ASK YOU AGAIN. He said. Then, as an afterthought, he repeated, IF YOU LIVE.  
  
And with that, I was back in the serenity of the mountains. 


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7 (Gordon.)  
  
When the Ellimist came for the first time, I was overwhelmed. With what, I don't know. But I do know it hurt to think about it.  
  
After he woke me up, he showed us the array of earth's beauties. And I agree, he was right. We did have a beautiful planet and we squandered it, but the way he did it just didn't seem right. It seemed too fake.  
  
But when we came back to the yeerk pool, I could see the truth. I saw something I hadn't noticed before. The drop-shaft. It was remarkably close to the building we were stuck in.  
  
We had seen one before, in the mother ship, when we went into space for the first time. Which made me realize what was going on.  
  
Me and Jake both saw it, and we both knew what we were thinking.  
  
But when Jake told the Ellimist to come back, I was surprised to see only myself and the Ellimist in the yeerk pool. I knew he was curious, but I couldn't place my finger on it at first. Especially because apparently there could be nothing I hid from him.  
  
But instead of being demanding, he asked politely. "Why did you say 'Toomin' when you were knocked unconscious?" He asked.  
  
And to be perfectly honest, I didn't know myself. "It was simply the first thing that came to mind when I lost consciousness." I said simply.  
  
"So you do have it." He said simply.  
  
I almost laughed. He was trying to tell me that I had telekinesis too. "Mr. Ellimist, sir. I hate to be rude, but leave me alone about this telekinesis thing, oaky? I do not have it. I tried, and it doesn't work." I did laugh.  
  
"No, it is true. Sam is correct in believing that. You have it. You do."  
  
"So you are saying I am one of sam's minions?" I joked. "Well, I have heard it before. Sam does it all the time. And don't give me any of that 'chosen one' crap. I have seen it too much."  
  
"No, not chosen. Made." He said. "You were not born with the power, and Sam did not give it to you. It was given to you by a superior being."  
  
"You?" I asked incredulously. I laughed again. I couldn't believe what he was trying to say here.  
  
"No, not me. Much higher, but I am not able to truly understand it myself. All I know is that I cannot tamper with you or Sam. Your time- lines are forever stitched in the never ending fabric of time."  
  
"Well, that's good to hear." I said.  
  
"I leave you with a question.....what would you do if you did have Sam's powers?" He said as he vanished into nothingness again. I looked around, wondering if I had the answer, when suddenly, I was on the taxxon tongue again.  
  
It's sticky liquid held me there, as the others were all screaming. I was too confused to scream. I was demorphing. Simple as that.  
  
{Everybody, demorph now!} Jake yelled. He didn't need to tell me once.  
  
I could feel the flesh of the taxxon press up against me as I was swallowed. The pulsing and pounding throat tried to force me down, but I was not easy to swallow, as I was getting too large for the taxxon to swallow.  
  
I could feel a spasm of the muscles as he tried to greedily force me down his throat anyway, he was used to big bites, but this was too much. I was growing rapidly, human features emerging from my cockroach body, and cassie was right behind me. The others were still small.  
  
Between me and Cassie, he had more than he could handle. I could feel a pressure release as the taxxon split open. If I remembered correctly, then there were few people where the taxxon was. Which meant less guilt for me.  
  
But I had other things on my mind that very second. I had to worry about what I was going to do to not puke. Taxxons were some of the most foul creatures I had ever known, and if they were any worse when gutted, I would have to puke. Luckily I couldn't smell anything yet, my nose hadn't been formed from the cockroach's mouthparts yet.  
  
But I thought too soon, as soon as I was demorphed, the smell hit me like a wave of bile. I wiped the taxxon's entrails off me and used all my willpower to not hurl all over the place. It wasn't until I got to my senses before I realized the rest of the group was still morphing and giving each other advice.  
  
{......Morph battle morphs!} I heard Rachel yell.  
  
{Yes, do that, we will get out of here as soon as we can.} jake agreed. They were still all half cockroaches. About two feet tall.  
  
I began to morph to Hork Bajir, it was my standard battle morph. I had every morph the others did, though. Wolf, tiger, elephant, gorilla, hork bajir, and andalite. I don't use the andalite one. It was Elfangor.  
  
TTTTTSSSSSEEEEEWWWWWW!  
  
TTTTTSSSSSEEEEEWWWWWW!  
  
Two red beams lanced across the room, missing me by millimetres. I looked over to see where Cassie was, she was fine.  
  
I then looked to see where the beams were coming from. I could see nothing. Just a counter. I figured the guy was hiding behind it.  
  
I hobbled over to the counter on my still-forming legs. By the time I got there, I was almost fully morphed. So close that I could use my body fine. I leaned over the counter and saw a man quivering behind the counter.  
  
He caught sight of my shadow and looked up, panicked. He tried to aim his gun at me, but I grabbed his hand with my much bigger reptilian fist. I grabbed the gun from him and threw it across the room.  
  
He tried to run, but I grabbed him around the neck. My hork bajir muscles bulged as I picked him up, kicking and trying to yell. My hands were blocking off his airway, though. He was making no sound.  
  
I turned around to see everybody finally demorphed, wiping themselves off. Ax was the first to notice me holding the controller. Soon after, everybody else noticed.  
  
{He has seen us as humans.} I said simply. {I am sorry.}  
  
I was disgusted by what I had to do. I wished Sam was here to do it. But it had to be done. It was just that simple.  
  
{Is there no other way?} Cassie pleaded.  
  
Unfortunately, there wasn't. {I am sorry Cass, this is war, and there is nothing we can do. If there was, do you think we would be fighting?}  
  
She turned around with nothing to say. Everybody else turned around and began to morph. I knew what I had to do, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. He was a human, he was not battling, and he was at our mercy. If I was human now, I would be shedding a few tears.  
  
I grabbed his head, and........  
  
I tossed him to the side, watching the others complete their morph. We were ready to brave the pool area now that we were all morphed.  
  
Out we went, Rachel's elephant body shattering through the glass that was the front wall. We were all soon to follow. We got quite a few "Andalite!!!"'s, but we forced our way through. Rachel tossing hork bajir and people out of her way. She was going straight towards the dropshaft. I guess Jake filled her in when I wasn't listening.  
  
Cassie got in front, weaving through the people, she was the first to reach the dropshaft. Up she went, into the roof. Jake was the next, he jumped up and over some of the hork bajir and landed in the dropshaft. Up he went too.  
  
That left me, Ax, Rachel, and Marco. Rachel took the lead, allowing us to make sure her ass wasn't slashed to hell. We did eventually all make it to the dropshaft, but Rachel was too big. She had to partially demorph to fit. Ax, Marco and I all defended her.  
  
There were people all over the place. To every angle, in every direction. I was keeping myself bust y pushing and kicking them back. Marco was doing the same as Ax whipped his tail around, keeping the controllers at bay.  
  
We kept this up long enough to have Rachel disappear into the dropshaft. Ax was quick to follow, and so was Marco. I stayed behind long enough to push the last group of people back long enough to get on without being mugged. I stood on the empty platform and thought up. And I went up into light, looking down at the onlookers. Not one of them went up, and not one of them shot at us. It confused me, but I didn't worry about it.  
  
We were home safe.  
  
When we got to the top we began to demorph. We were in an empty building, a round, empty building made of concrete. It looked like a water tower. There was nothing around but the dropshaft. But when I looked over to it, it looked like solid ground. Clever, they used a hologram.  
  
We were tired, so we all morphed to our respective bird of prey morphs and went home. Since we were so tired, we didn't even think about how many things could be hidden by holograms..... 


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8  
  
After we got out of the building, we all kind of went our separate ways. Rachel had to spend time with her family, Cassie had things to do in the barn, Marco had chores, Jake had something in the family. You know, the usual.  
  
Me and Ax both went back to our little shack. It was a nice day, but not too nice. Ax and I just kind of pared ways without saying much. We both had things to think about.  
  
I went inside the house and flopped down on my bed. There was so many things to think about, I didn't know where to start.  
  
Well, I thought maybe I would sort out what I did know before I started to think about what I didn't know.  
  
I know there is a god. Yes, the Ellimist was a god. He claims to be able to do anything he wanted. He could go back or forward in time, he could create, or destroy. That was what a god was.  
  
But did he actually say it, or am I just imagining it? But it doesn't matter, I can see what he can do. So I guess he may be right. He was claiming to want to help us. By doing that, he wants to help the human race.  
  
Would I accept his offer? Would it make a difference? Did it matter. My vote never counts. Never. But would I go? I thought about it and decided I wouldn't. There was no way I was going to do that. This was my planet and I was to protect it, like a god myself. That is why I am here.  
  
Wait a second, where have I heard that? 'This is my planet, and on it I am god..'? Oh well.  
  
Back to the issue at hand. After he sent the rest to deal with everything, he talked to me personally. Why? What made me special? He said I was like Sam, was that true? No, of course it wasn't, I tried it many times. I shook my head.  
  
But did he talk to anyone else privately? Was I normal after all? Actually, I knew he must have talked to Whitney, she knew he was coming in the yeerk pool. But what did that represent?  
  
I wondered what Whitney and Sam were doing right then. Were they going through the same questions I was? Were they planning on coming back any time soon to help us? Were they ever coming back? Of course thy were, if Whitney had any say in it.  
  
I got up, too many questions. I need to go away for a while. Pass the time until I could figure out what I was doing. I decided to morph to falcon. I needed some down time.  
  
"...what would you do if you did have Sam's powers?" Suddenly, the thought was in my mind, clear as a bell. I stopped in my tracks. What would I do?  
  
I decided to sit back down. There was still more thinking to be done. I walked over to the bed and flopped back down. Why would a power like that ask such a question? Especially if he could see into the past and future. He knew what I .. would ..... do.......  
  
Wait a second! What if I truly do have it? Maybe he was trying to get me to understand early. Maybe I was supposed to do great things with it, what if I was to save the world with it and he was giving me a head start.........naaah. It wasn't very probable.  
  
But not impossible.  
  
Sam had it, and he said both me and him were immortally wound into the fabric of time. Maybe he was making me realize my potential. I was, after all, a genius. I could handle a gift like that. No problem.  
  
I cradled my head. What was going on here? Why did so many things happen this way? And above all else, why did I say, 'Toomin" when the Ellimist appear? What made that come into my mind? Was it a name? A title? What was it?  
  
Too many tings were confusing the hell out of me. Why do I have the dreams I have? The incredibly realistic ones? Why can I speak outside of morph, unlike the others? Why could I hear telepathy when it wasn't directed at me? Why? Why? Why?  
  
Too many questions. Not enough answers. But maybe they were all one answer. The Ellimist saying that Sam and I were the same, but different, what did it mean? Was it linked? Ax's theory, about the z-space interconnection. Did that have anything to do with it?  
  
When we first asked Ax about it, he said that Sam had one half of the power, I had the other half, according to his scientists.  
  
"....what would you do if you did have Sam's powers?" The question popped up in my mind again. What would I do?  
  
One half of a power. We both had it, but we each had fractured parts of it. Was the Ellimist getting at me having the whole power? Did I but was I too ignorant to notice?  
  
Sam said when he used it, he could see blood red on the object he was moving. His eyes glowed dark red while he was doing it. When I fought Sam, I saw flashes of blue, was it true?  
  
The Ellimist knew something he wasn't telling us. But what was it. He saw something in the future for me. time was not to be messed with. Future, past, present. Present?.......gift?  
  
Time was tricky, anything could alter the space-time continuum. Was what he said an interpretation of the future as it was. Could his intervention have changed that? Was he trying to tell us without telling us directly? Was it all for me?  
  
No, I couldn't have anything on me. I had a planet of my own to protect. But wasn't that the point. The point was the future. Not the past. Only future and present.  
  
Present? ........Gift?  
  
One intervention........  
  
Destiny.......  
  
Life........  
  
Suddenly, I stood up, triumphantly, with a fist in the air. "I've got it!" I said. "The Ellimist made that meeting because it was important to time. His presence changed time, and so he decided to give it a boost. He gave me the other half of the power, so that future doesn't exist!"  
  
BINGO..........SHHHHHH. Said the voice that came from everywhere and nowhere at once. THERE IS MORE TO THE STORY, SIT TIGHT AND DON'T TELL ANYONE WHAT YOU HAVE DISCOVERED. OTHERS STILL NEED TO BE TAUGHT THE TRUTH.  
  
"But there is so much to tell!" I yelled at the ceiling. No answer. He wasn't coming back. I sat back on my bed, grinning a smile ten miles wide.  
  
I had it. What it was, I did not know, but it was given to me for a reason, but I figured it out faster than I was supposed to.  
  
".......what would you do if you did have Sam's powers?" Again. I will tell you what I would do, I would save the world. I think that is what he wanted.  
  
But how would I do it? I still had no clue how to work it. How would I do it? I would practice, that's how. Same as Sam. On what? I dunno, nothing can hurt.  
  
I extended my hand and aimed it at a pencil. I concentrated, I wanted it to come to me. The world went blue and the pencil flew towards my hand. I stared at the pencil in my hand with awe. I honestly didn't know what to say or think.  
  
There was so much to do, but I was told to stay out of it for now.  
  
{What's so interesting about a hand?} Tobias asked as he flew in the doorway and landed on one of the many boards.  
  
I instantly wiped the happy look on my face, I was good at putting on a mood. "Oh, uh, nothing. Just delusions of grandeur, I guess." I answered, shrugging my shoulders.  
  
{ I understand.} he said glumly. {Umm, I heard about that guy, in the pool. The witness. All I have to say it that has to take guts. I am so sorry you had to do that.}  
  
I kept silent. I didn't need to be reminded. If he was fighting us, it would be different. I was guilty enough as it is, I didn't need him saying that kind of thing. It wasn't until he was about to leave when I realized why he was being so glum. For brief moment, Tobias was human again.  
  
"I am sorry, for what the Ellimist did. He was teasing you, wasn't he?" I said.  
  
{I guess. Anyways, I was thinking. Maybe we should take up this guy's offer. Just imagine what he could do for us. He could make me, me again.} Tobias said, enthused.  
  
I didn't want to burst his bubble, so I didn't. "I dunno Tobias. That is just an illusion. He could just be making that up. We have to think about the entire human race, not just us." I said. It almost sounded harsh, like 'you aren't allowed to enjoy being human again.'  
  
I instantly apologized. I felt like an ass. "Anyway, I should maybe get some rest. We need to make a group decision. Let's sleep on it." I said.  
  
Tobias left, and I slept, but I couldn't help but think about the future.  
  
"What would you do, Gordon? What would you do?" I will show you, I will show you all. 


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9  
  
We stared each other down. There was a war going on around us. The Animorphs were all fighting the hork bajir and humans, desperately trying to get out. But the two of us were alone in the middle.  
  
The yeerk pool was alive with yeerks that likely didn't know what the hell was going on. They just swam indifferently and contentedly in their gray sludge.  
  
I stared across the pool and into glowing red eyes. He was looking at my glowing blue eyes. His black trench-coat and fully loaded arsenal were sticking out. "You won't win." I said as I stepped forward.  
  
"Hmph." Sam huffed. "You would think so, but guess what? I have business to take care of, and I can't be here long, so I will have to make this fast."  
  
I shook my head. "No, we don't need to do it here." I said. "Not here, not now."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Because, they need to get out. They don't need to be in the way." I pointed at the assorted animals battling the hork bajir on te sidelines.  
  
"They aren't mine, I can't call them off." He shook his head. "Sorry." Without warning, he jumped up over the pool and flew at me, bringing out his sword on the way.  
  
As soon as I saw this, I drew my blade too. No guns, they were useless.  
  
When he got near, he slashed at me sideways and I parried it away. He used this to turn around and slash down at me. I raised my blade and blocked it. He withdrew and tried to stab me. I dodged to the side and kicked him in the stomach. He went flying, but readied himself in the air and dashed back at me.  
  
In a flash of blue, I stopped him in midair, but he quickly negated this with his own power and continued on to me. We both clashed at the swords. We pushed away and he spun, doing a roundhouse which I ducked under. But in the time it took me to duck, his other half was coming around to slash at me with his sword.  
  
The blade came up sideways and I had to dodge again. It barely missed me, but it was already coming back. Instead of dodging, I brought the blade up to stop it.  
  
We stopped for a minute. Sam looked impressed. "Good move, but I hate to say it isn't enough." He bloated.  
  
"It stopped you." I mentioned. This made him back up and slash at my legs. I slashed the same and stopped it, the blades clashed. Then I slashed at his head, it was open, but his sword was there to stop me. Up then down. Both at the same time.  
  
Then he tried to kick mt in the head. I backed off and kicked up to stop it. A hand just wouldn't do it. Both feet hit at head height. Then we both kicked down, both stopping the other. Then we both kicked each other head on. Both of our bottoms of our feet hit and we both used it to flip away from the other. We stopped at the same time.  
  
"I don't have time for this." Sam said. His eyes glowed.  
  
"Sam, why must we continue to fight. We would do better as a team, like before. Why don't we do that again?" I pleaded.  
  
Sam shook his head. "Gordon, let me tell you a little secret. It isn't about destruction. I have no problem with you. I don't want to destroy or conquer the world. But you want to destroy my future. There is an entire species that will be needing a leader soon." He grinned and flew out of there.  
  
What? I wanted to destroy his future? How would that work?  
  
I woke up, trying to continue with the dream. I like to do that, you know. If I am having a cool dream I like to keep in that middle consciousness where I could control me but not the world around me. It was like the ultimate video game.  
  
But I failed. The feeling was gone and the satisfaction was fleeting.  
  
So I got up and got myself a Coke. I couldn't help but Ax surely did a great job on our house. The electrical system powered by dracon crystals, and the entire system of computers, and TV and everything. Hell, I lived here better here than I did at home.  
  
Oh well. Life was great, except when we needed to get groceries. That required some joint effort. I couldn't morph, so I walked the bags to the forest and he telekinetically carried them the rest of the way.  
  
Our house was a good half hour to forty-five minutes walk from Cassie's, straight through the mountains and you had to go through some pretty good thickets before getting to the house. Actually, I wonder what would happen if someone was unfortunate enough to stumble upon the place one day. Sure, the place was surrounded in a quarter mile radius with thick brambles and getting here would require some effort, but it could happen.  
  
I stared at the wall, considering the possibilities. Would we have to kill the person? No. Not like the guy I... killed....  
  
Oh, right. I forgot I had a meeting to attend to any minute now. I looed at the clock ont he wall to see what time it was. I couldn't carry a watch, morphing and all. It was nine o'clock, so I decided to gulp the rest of my coke (which left an unpleasant buzz in the back of my throat.) and get on with it.  
  
I stripped my clothes and put on my morphing outfit. I don't wear it to bed. That would be stupid.  
  
So I got dressed and went outside. The green grass was tickling the bottoms of my feet. Ah, the simple pleasures. And yes, there was grass in front of the house. We kept it short by the door, that way Tobias could still hunt in the meadow which spread a hundred feet to one side and fifty to the other. The short end was filled with big rocks worth sunbathing on and the other side had my oak tree in the middle of it.  
  
Anyway, I began to morph, I felt the feathers spread across my body as I shrunk. My bones hollowed out and switched direction. My beak hardened and my legs turned to drumsticks. I was morphed in a total of thirty seconds.  
  
Cassie and I were both really fast. I was a hint faster, but I couldn't do it as well in the order she did it. I could if I Was really slow, but not like her. She could do it in whatever order she wanted at a fast speed. I was either one or the other.  
  
So I took off and flew to the barn. I figured everybody else would be there by now. It was past nine and the meeting was for nine. I was late.  
  
By the time I got there, five minutes later at most, they were all there waiting. Well, not Sam or Whitney. They apparently were having a vacation. We figured we would leave them out of this one.  
  
So it was Me, Tobias, Rachel, Ax, Cassie, Jake, and Marco. Seven of us.  
  
As soon as I walked into the room, Jake got up from his bale of hay and started the discussion quickly. "Alright. Now that we are all here, we have to have a little diplomacy. Let's have a vote. We will discuss the situation and make a group decision based on the facts."  
  
I pretty much knew how it would go. Cassie, Tobias, and Marco would take the offer. Me and Rachel wouldn't. And Jake and Ax would leave it up to the five of us. Though Sam and Whitney would both be against it. But they weren't here.  
  
"Well, what do we know?" Cassie started.  
  
"We know this Ellimist claims to want to help." Marco said.  
  
"And I think it is just a ploy to get us to quit." Rachel said stubbornly. I agreed. Sure, this Ellimist was powerful and could do anything, but who knew who's side he was really on.  
  
"Well, he is trying to save us, don't you see that?" Cassie said. "I have been with so many animals in my life, and when I am trying to save one with their foot in a trap, they growl and snap at me, even though I am trying to help."  
  
"Aaaaand..." Macro said imatiently.  
  
"And to it, we are superior. Just like the Ellimist is superior to us. Maybe he can see into the future and see consequences that we can't. It is a possibility, and who are we to say otherwise?" Cassie said.  
  
But I spoke up. "But Cassie, even though I also think highly of animals, but there is one thing that separates us. Our intelligence. A raccoon only sees an enemy when you come near, and yes, we may be resisting rescue, but we have pride. Pride for our planet. This is ours, think of it as a zoo. Taking wild animals from the jungle and putting them in a foreign environment. We are the tigers. The elephants. The difference between your argument and mine is that yours say we are in a trap. We aren't, we just aren't in a good position. There is still a chance. If we were about to be killed, I could understand accepting an offer like this, but as it stands, we don't need help. It is too early to understand." I hit home with that one. It made everyone sit back and think.  
  
"But he can see the future." Marco said. "And if he can see the future, then maybe he is trying to make us make a decision that will save us before the fact. Before we made the bad decision."  
  
Meanwhile, Jake was just sitting back, thinking about what was going on. 


	10. Chapter 10 Whitney

Chapter 10 (Whitney)  
  
After Sam and I got back from the first visit, we had to sit down and try to sort through all the details. Neither of us actually knew what the hell was going on.  
  
"So, do you think the Ellimist is to be trusted?" I asked. Usually, I could figure out people very well, but this wasn't a person. Sam, on the other hand, could be a psychiatrist.  
  
He shook his head, then answered. "I am not sure. He acts like he is being honest, but doesn't really seem to want us to know anything. Like we are inferior." He said.  
  
"But what if he is telling the truth? Will you accept the offer?" I asked.  
  
He shook his head. "Not a chance in hell." He sad defiantly. "I have things to do here."  
  
"The yeerk thing?" I asked. I was kind of disappointed with him. Sure, he felt the need to defend his planet, but why do that? He could leave. Visser three would no longer have to be his problem. He didn't need to look for a fight around every corner.  
  
"No. Not that at all. I really don't see the need to jump to such a conclusion so early." He said. "And on top of that, I feel there are too many layers to deal with. He said we would take our family and friends so we wouldn't be lonely."  
  
"Right." I nodded.  
  
"Well, what about our family and friends's family and friends. Where would he draw the line? What would be fair? It could very well lead to the entire planet going."  
  
"I guess." I didn't know what to say. I hadn't really thought about that. But him saying it did make me think of a few different points. Like what we would do if we were taken there. "What about when we got there?" I asked.  
  
"I know, it wouldn't work." He said.  
  
"No, I mean, what would we do? Do any of us know how to smelt metal, make fire, or start a civilization from scratch? I know I couldn't." I said.  
  
"Good point." He said.  
  
We both sat back, thinking about the points brought up. They were both right, and the more I thought about it, the more I realized they were right. There was no way we could successfully pull this off. At least I couldn't. There was too much to think about. And besides, it wasn't like me to just give up.  
  
The Ellimist is out of luck, if I can help it. But that brought up another point. "Sam, what if we don't want to go, but the rest do? Will we have to go too?"  
  
"I don't know. I sure as hell hope not." After that, we pretty much went to bed. It wasn't all that late, but we were tired as hell.  
  
The next day, we were both sitting around, discussing what would happen. Mostly whether or not we should go to meet them at the barn like they said.  
  
"Sam, we should really go down and tell them what we think. I don't want to be forced to pay for a decision I didn't make." I said.  
  
Sam just shook his head. "Don't worry, the Ellimist will be back, I am sure of it." He said.  
  
So we went on through our day. I was just hoping they didn't go ahead and make the decision. I was hoping Sam was right, and the Ellimist would come back to allow us to make a decision together. I hoped a lot of things.  
  
But rest assured, alter that day, the Ellimist came to talk to us again. Out of the sky, he appeared like a cloud of blue mist, forming out of nowhere. As usual, the worlda round us stopped.  
  
"Your friends are having difficulty. They cannot decide whether they should or should not trust me." He said.  
  
"Why would we trust you. We don't even know who you are. Only what you tell us. Are you simply trying to manipulate us, or help us, we don't know." Sam said. And he could very well be right either way.  
  
"I understand that, is there any way I can make you trust me?" He asked.  
  
I shook my head. "No, not indefinitely. There is almost always an underlying plot, and when we can only see what you want us to see, then you could be hiding a lot of information."  
  
The Ellimist smiled and looked at me. "You are clever. I can see that." He said, "but there is much you need to learn."  
  
I blushed. I didn't know what to say.  
  
"Well, you could allow us to talk to the rest of the group. See what they have to say." Sam suggested. "It would allow us to make a more informed decision."  
  
"No. Instead I have decided to show you what needs to be seen. I will allow you all to see what the future holds in store for all of you. Especially you." He looked at Sam. "Are you sure you want to know the consequences of your actions?"  
  
"What actions? Ones I have made, or will make?" Sam asked. But the Ellimist just smiled and allowed the world to dissolve.  
  
We were instantly transported to a world not unlike our own. Actually, something told me it was our own.  
  
The world was barren, dead. And the sky was filled with slightly yellowed clouds and the world had a haze over it. It was gross.  
  
Beside us, the rest of the Animorphs were there. All of them, Jake, Rachel, Tobias, Cassie, Marco, Ax, and Gordon. All waiting. Tobias was even human again. He just shrugged as Rachel stared at him with resentment.  
  
"Good to see you again." Gordon said as he waved. "So, any idea where we are?"  
  
"I think we need to look around before we make any decisions." Cassie suggested. And so we did. There seemed to be nothing around. Just half buildings and a yellow sky. I, of course, didn't recognize any of it.  
  
"I think we would do good to start exploring, it doesn't look like standing here will amount to anything." Jake said. And I agreed.  
  
We began to walk. Which must have been awkward for Tobias. He was now used to flying. He was stumbling a bit over the rubble that lined the ground.  
  
"You alright?" I asked as I helped him up.  
  
"I'm fine. This will just take a while before I will perfect it again." He answered.  
  
We continued to explore. I could see buildings all torn down. It looked like someone had set off a bomb downtown. Actually, the more I looked, the more I realized where we were.  
  
"Guys, we are home. Well, not home, it looks like the place has been destroyed." I pointed out.  
  
"Good work, genius." Marco said. I just laughed. I guess he was right. It was pretty obvious. "Any other remarkable observations?" I laughed again.  
  
"Well, I think this is the future." Rachel said. "I think. I mean, look at that. that looks like the construction site, kinda. And that is the mall." She pointed out.  
  
I looked over and saw the mall, because that was what it was, only the giant 'WAL*MART' words were gone, and in it's place were many holes. Holes which Taxxons crawled in and out of like a taxxon hive or something. It was gross.  
  
And from it came a giant tube. That tube burst from the roof and led to all kinds of places. Like a hamster environment. In it I saw people, hork bajir, and Taxxons fleeting through it. Like a drop-shaft that went in every direction.  
  
"What is that thing?" Gordon asked. "The tube, I mean."  
  
"I think it is a mode of transportation. Maybe if we see where it goes, we can learn something." Jake said. And so I did. I looked in many of the directions it went. Actually, it surprised me because I hadn't noticed it before.  
  
"Sam, why don't you fly up and see where some of it leads? We can't see much from here." I said. A building was in our way.  
  
"Alright, you guys can go and look around that mall, I will see what I can see from up there." Sam said as he jumped up into the sky, superman style.  
  
Jake shrugged his shoulders. "Let's go, we have nothing better to do."  
  
But Marco put his hands up. "Whoa, let's look at some facts here. In case you haven't noticed, this world has been taken over by yeerks. Look around here. It is exactly as Ax said it would be."  
  
{Not exactly, but similar.} Ax said.  
  
Marco shot Ax a look. "Whatever. Either way, this is yeerk territory now. I say we find a way to not get ourselves killed and stay away from all the yeerk infested areas."  
  
But cassie stopped him. "Marco, I understand what you are trying to say, but we can't just stay in one place. The Ellimist wanted to show us something, I don't think staying here is the best way to see what he had in mind. And considering he claims to want to help us, I don't think he wants us dead."  
  
Cassie's argument hit home. Marco looked like he was going to say something, but he stopped, seeing we weren't going to listen to him anyway. He just crossed his arms and went with us.  
  
We continued on our journey. 


	11. Chapter 11 Whitney

Chapter 11 (Whitney)  
  
We walked down the street towards the mall. In between the half broken building, there was nothing but emptiness. Like it had been cleaned or something. Everything was down, but there was nothing on the ground. It was like it was cleaned.  
  
Weird.  
  
But there was nothing. The buildings were empty. No people, no bodies, nothing. It was like....well, I didn't know quite what it was like. It was like there was an accidental bomb that went off and as much of it was cleaned up as possible.  
  
Weird.  
  
Either way, the closer we got to the mall, the more nervous we got. It was like there was something there. Something important. We were all waiting for Sam to come back to tell us what it was. None of us were going to morph, for fear of being noticed and killed.  
  
But we walked, and walking we did. Overhead, I saw people flying by in the drop-shaft things. It was interesting, I will give the yeerks that.  
  
"Interesting, isn't it?" I asked.  
  
"Yeah, but I would prefer to see what needs to be seen, and get the hell out of here." Gordon said. I agreed.  
  
"Well, maybe it is an event, and we are simply here for the preshow." Marco said.  
  
{No, I fear this is simply what you need to see. The Ellimist believes you are going to lose, and he is trying to get you to believe him by doing this. I think he is trying to scare you into believing what he wants.}  
  
"I figured that much, but why?" Jake said.  
  
{Not the why, when?} Ax said. We all stared at him, I had no clue what he was talking about. {The Ellimist can make an world. The future has not happened yet, and maybe this is simply possibility. No future is permanent. This could be another dimension altogether.} he tried to explain.  
  
But I tried to answer better, I thought I got it now. "This could happen, if some things are done improperly. This may or may not happen. He is trying to make us avoid the decision that would make this."  
  
Then Rachel nodded her head. She got it, as did everyone else. Gordon kept his mouth shut. I guess he was trying to figure it out. He did that a lot.  
  
We were just about to continue on with our lives, when Sam came back. He landed on the ground in front of us. He seemed excited.  
  
"Wow." He said. "I mean, wow. You all need to see this. They have done a lot with the place." Really excited.  
  
"What?" Tobias asked. It was odd to hear him use a real voice. It was kind of bland.  
  
"Behind the mall. You can't see it from here, but it is huge. You really have to see it for yourselves. It is huge."  
  
Even I was getting annoyed. "Just tell us what it was!" I shook my head.  
  
He hesitated, but eventually let it out. "It is the yeerk pool. Now aboveground. And it is even bigger than before!" Why he was excited was beyond me. That seemed like a bad thing. Maybe it was the yeerk in him, expressing some of it's own emotions.  
  
"Well, let's go and check it out. Maybe that is what we are here for." Jake said calmly.  
  
So we began to walk. A few blocks later, we came to one of the drop- shaft entrances. We all looked at each other and shrugged. What harm could it do? We all got on, except for Sam. He flew ahead.  
  
I noticed the drop-shaft was flawless. There was no wind and it was controlled by our thoughts. Like the normal ones. When I wanted to go one way, I went one way. At an intersection, it turned without hesitation.  
  
But all of us had to go at slightly different times. Man, some of the wonders of technology. Deep in the back of my mind, I was trying to figure out how the damn thing worked. It was confusing, and I sure as hell never figured it out.  
  
But it worked, and as I slowly went over the mall, the spectacle that was the yeerk pool. Man, it was amazing, surprisingly.  
  
It was just like the yeerk pool we all knew, but it was bigger, and seemed to actually look fun. There was a giant TV screen, for drive-in movies. There was an entire docking bay, which had ships coming in and out of it. We only couldn't see them before because the building were in our way.  
  
But it was there, and bustling with activity. There were people everywhere. And the one main difference from this yeerk pool and the one we knew was that the people there actually seemed happy. There were no screams of agony or moans of despair. This was a happy place.  
  
That was what took me off guard. It was happy. The free hosts weren't crying, they were all voluntary. It was almost sickening, but how could you say that about something of this calibur? These people were content. I don't know how many times I have to say that to make sure you understand?  
  
We were lowered to the side of the pool, one of the drop-shaft openings. We were greeted by three people, all of them well dressed. (As in not grubby or scantily clad. Not tuxedo's)  
  
"Welcome back sir Sam. And a good greeting to you as well, Illnith." The first one said. Sam got a confused look on his face.  
  
"It is good to see you here. Is there anything wrong?" The second one asked. Sam looked even more confused, but played along.  
  
"I am fine, good to see you as well. No there is nothing wrong, just checking things out." He said. He played that out quite well. "You may leave now."  
  
In an instant, they were all gone, ran away to do whatever it is henchman do.  
  
"What was that?" Marco asked.  
  
Sam shrugged his shoulders. "Beats the hell out of me." He acted confused again. But I think I knew why. Was the yeerk in his head Illnith? I decided to wait until later to ask him about it. I didn't want to start an argument here.  
  
"Well, we should get moving, you never know what is around the next corner." Jake said. He began to walk away from the pool and us. But stopped when he saw none of us were moving.  
  
Gordon shook his head. "No, something tells me we should stay here, for a while, anyways. There clearly isn't anything elsewhere." And he was right. The rest of the town was barren and empty. This is where the action was.  
  
"I guess so." Rachel commented.  
  
So we all stood around, waiting for something to happen. It wasn't 'till then that I notice Ax had morphed human. That was why the little brats didn't say anything about him.  
  
Tobias was squinting, looking all around, but not seeing very well. He was used to hawk eyes and now he was straining to see something. I followed his gaze ad saw the water tower. The one we all left in the day before.  
  
Except it was different. The top had been taken off, and now it was a glass dome. I personally wondered what it was.  
  
I caught Gordon looking at it too. The rest were looking elsewhere. At the people, at the pool, whatever.  
  
So we waited. Then the event happened.  
  
At first it was a mere whistling. It got louder and louder until it hurt my ears. I shielded them. I looked up to see a cruise missile coming right towards us. But it was stopped by an invisible force, and it exploded.  
  
There was no shock wave. I am assuming there was a force field stopping that. But then another two came in. Both aimed at two towers. One was a radio tower, the other was the EGS building. Both were covered in the same glass that the water tower was in.  
  
But both attempts at destroying them were stopped it their tracks. A dracon turret mounted on the other edge of the pool fired and hit both of them. Still no concussion or wave.  
  
"What the hell as that?" Marco asked as the dust settled.  
  
"I don't know." Jake said silently. "And I don't want to find out." He began to morph to falcon.  
  
"Happy to oblige." Cassie and Rachel said as they began to morph their respective raptor morphs. But we were all cut short by the arrival of another spacecraft.  
  
As soon as Sam saw it, he fell to one knee. I went over to him and lightly held his shoulders. "Are you alright?" I asked quietly, so nobody else could hear.  
  
He shook his head and said, "It's him."  
  
The ship landed in front of us. Not over in the docks that the rest of the spaceships were, but right in front of us. The lights of it's hovering mechanism shut off and the door slid open. What came out it was completely unexpected.  
  
Out popped Sam. An almost identical carbon copy. Maybe a few years older, but still. "Howdy." He said. 


	12. Chapter 12 Whitney

Chapter 12 (Whitney)  
  
From the ship popped the last thing I expected. It was sam, but he was like 16 or something. He hadn't grown much, but looked more mature.  
  
I kinda liked the look.  
  
But there was something wrong here. Why was he calm? And what was he doing here? And who was he with? I saw a shadowy figure sitting behind in the ship. He looked somewhat familiar.  
  
"So, how are my favourite Animorphs?" Old Sam asked. None of us knew what to say. I knew I was in shock. "What, no witty remark from Marco? No dumbass comment from Gordon? No string of questions from dear old Whit? And of course, no plaguing series of 'why's' from Sam?" He laughed.  
  
Jake just stared, confused. Gordon, on the other hand, looked almost scared. Sam, on the other hand, was the only one to keep a straight face. Everyone else was throwing confused glances around.  
  
I stepped forward. "Why?" I asked simply.  
  
He chuckled a bit, shrugged his shoulders and shook his head gently. "Why? I don't know, because I could?" He laughed. Then settled down. "But seriously, it was out of necessity."  
  
"How was it necessary to destroy our whole planet?" Marco asked. One thing that bothered me was why nobody was acting like the real sam was the bad guy yet. Only sam was acting like he was sure of anything.  
  
Maybe he knows he would never go that far? I knew he wouldn't, not in a million years. But did the rest know that?  
  
"Oh, not the entire planet. Just this city. I have tried to leave peacefully, but everyone keeps firing at me. I try to keep the place clean." so that was why there was no rubble.  
  
"But what about us? Don't we matter? We live here too." Jake said.  
  
But then, real Sam started shaking his head. "No, this isn't real. There is no way. I would never do that." He said. And I believed him. He knew what limits were.  
  
But Old Sam laughed again. "Yes, you would. A simple plan gone wrong, a certain group of people got in the way. Power leads to hate, hate leads to power. I, you, we both know what kind of opportunities could arise when an entire empire is left leaderless. Opportunity strikes and priorities are messed up. Believe me, I was there. I remember thinking the same thing. All I can say is let your instincts guide you, and your potential is unlimited. Never forget that. Know who your enemies are, and keep them close. I have things to do." He turned to walk away.  
  
"Stop." Sam said. "What are you talking about?"  
  
Old Sam stopped. Slowly he turned around, the shadowy figure in the ship got up. I still couldn't make out who it was, but that hair was oh so familiar.  
  
"The most I can say is that Visser three is the target. Stay on track, and a job opportunity will open up. Use every resource you have, and those hungry for power will follow. But be careful. Now, if you don't mind, I have business to attend to." He turned around and closed the door to his ship. It wasn't andalite nor yeerk. I couldn't really make it out. Probably original.  
  
But right as the door was closing, I saw a glimpse of Will, the shadowy figure. Will, who I grew up next to. He was my cousin, and we got along quite well. But what would he be doing with Sam? Was that the ally Old Sam was talking about? But why Will?  
  
As soon as the ship was lifting off, sam slumped his shoulders. "I wouldn't do that." He said sullenly as he shook his head slowly.  
  
"I know." I said as I tried to comfort him. I didn't even care that the rest of the Animorphs were there watching. He wasn't crying, but he was trying to deny it.  
  
"Sam, look, if it makes you feel any better, we understand that anything could happen." Cassie said. But I knew she was bullshitting. Something in the back of my mind knew that from this day forward, nobody would even consider trusting sam.  
  
I would, though.  
  
"I don't need your caring words, Cass." Sam aid as he turned around. "I would never kill you. Okay, so my body did once, but that wasn't me. I would never do anything to directly hurt you." He said.  
  
But it didn't sound right. Sam never pleaded to anyone, let alone Jake. This was all an act, but the message was clear, and honest. Sam would never do anything to hurt us.  
  
At least not me, so why wasn't I on this ship?  
  
"Can I suggest calling the Ellimist and tell him we saw what we came here to see?" Gordon asked.  
  
{He knows. It is just that simple. I fear that is not what he wanted us to see.} Ax said.  
  
But none of us moved. We all sat there, staring at Sam. Well, all except me and Gordon. Gordon had a really steadfast look on his face.  
  
"And your problem is?" Sam asked him.  
  
Gordon shook his head. "Are you so sure?" He asked quietly. Sam looked hurt. "Are you so sure that if such an opportunity arises, you wouldn't go for it?"  
  
Sam shook his head. "Not at such a price. I couldn't lose Wh- you guys. I may not always get along with you, but I wouldn't kill you."  
  
"Sam, something tells me you would." Gordon said.  
  
Sam suddenly got angry. His face got much angrier and he closed his eyes in frustration. "What, do you think I am some sort of gun slinging madman, intent on killing to get where I go? I am human too, you know, not a mass murderer. This is all made up." He claimed.  
  
Gordon, unwavered, looked up. "Last night, I had a weird dream. One of my really weird dreams. We fought, and you left. You said 'there is an entire species about to need a leader.' Or something like that. And I don't think it was for entertainment. It is too close to what we just saw." He said.  
  
"But don't you find it odd that it happened last night? This Ellimist seems to be able to twist lots of things. Don't you find the timing a little peculiar? Why now?"  
  
"I guess that is a good point, but I guess we need to be careful. Now can we go?" Jake asked. He seemed to want to leave.  
  
We all hesitantly left. Left the yeerk pool, left the towers, left everything. Sam stayed behind. I guess he needed time to think. We all left him. Whenever the Ellimist zapped us out of here, we would all leave together. I was pretty sure of that much.  
  
WhhhhhheeeeeeWWWWWWW!!!  
  
WhhhhhheeeeeeWWWWWWW!!!  
  
Two streaking missiles went by overhead. They both exploded in a cloud of smoke. I could see the force field that stopped it.  
  
Immediately, the pool became active immediately. They all started to rush and go to stations for defence.  
  
WhheeWW!!  
  
WhheeWW!!  
  
More missiles flew overhead, ten, no twenty of them all at once. They were all stopped by the protective barrier that covered the city. But the missiles kept coming, and the shields didn't look like they were keeping up very well.  
  
"OKAY, ELLIMIST, YOU CAN TAKE US NOW!" Rachel screamed. But to no avail. The bombs going off around us continued to fall, and explode.  
  
Then, one of the bombs hit a building. It must have punched a hole in the shields, which was a bad thing. This meant the shields were no longer going to protect us!  
  
But then a ship came in, it was Old Sam. I could tell because someone actually jumped out while ti was flying, clad in black trench-coat. He hovered above the city, holding his hands in front of him.  
  
For some reason, the next wave of bombs all stopped in midair. No shield activating, they just stopped.  
  
I noticed Gordon as he fell to one knee beside me. I could see Sam, the original, in the street ahead of us. He was on his knees too.  
  
As Old Sam tried to fend off the attack, one of the bombs slipped through and hit a building. The one beside Sam. As it was hit, the building started to collapse, right on top of Sam. Let me tell you, if there was any time for the Ellimist to get us out, it was now.  
  
"Get out of there!" Tobias shouted. But none of us were running. Nothing we did would save him in time. We stood by helplessly as a building fell on Sam. He even curled up, as if it was going to help him.  
  
But then it stopped. About three feet above Sam. I knew it wasn't him, because even from this far away, I could tell he was as surprised as we were.  
  
It wasn't until I looked up that I saw what was stopping it. It was Old Sam. Both eyes were glowing so dark a red, I could see it from here. But Sam was quick to take advantage, he sprinted out from under it.  
  
But at the same time, another wave of missiles came, and it didn;t look like Sam could stop them this time. He was busy with an ENTIRE FREAKING BUILDING to deal with them.  
  
Tssssewwww!  
  
Tssssewwww!  
  
The ship that brought Sam in started firing, destroying a large majority of the incoming attacks. At least the ones that were aimed at the valuable things. Old Sam, at a lack of concentration, let go of the ENTIRE FREAKING BUILDING. It fell and made a huge mess, along with a powerful earthquake.  
  
But Sam was out.  
  
We were all nerve-wracked, but Sam seemed relieved. As soon as he saw he was okay, he got up and started running towards me.  
  
FLASH!  
  
We were on the mountaintop again. And he tripped on a rock. He fell face first in front of me. 


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13 (Gordon)  
  
Oh my god. Words could not convey what I was feeling. Too many things in place for none of it to be real. Sam was a friend, how could he do that?  
  
He couldn't.  
  
But why did the Ellimist decide to show us that? Was that so important that we were supposed to kill Sam? No, it couldn't be. The questions were flying around in my head all too much. I didn't know what the hell to do about them.  
  
But I didn't have much time to think, right after sam saved himself, we were almost instantly transported back to the real world. I was at my home, nobody else was. Instead of waiting around for them, I shed my outer clothing and morphed to peregrine falcon.  
  
I didn't waste any time, I just left. I didn't want to discuss it any further. Nobody was going to listen to me. Even though it was as real as the Ellimist said it would be.  
  
But when it all came down to it, I really needed to get away. It would just be better for me mentally. I needed some time to think about stuff. There was too much going on.  
  
It was a nice, warm day, the sun was still up and it was nearing set. All that time in the future messed me up, I thought it was night. So I flew, not knowing where I was headed, or where I would end up.  
  
So I just flew in no apparent direction. Over the city I went. As I flew, I pondered some of the thing we already knew. We knew little to nothing.  
  
Well, let me rephrase that, the rest of the group knows the Ellimist is trying to save us, I know he isn't. But for what reason, I didn't know...  
  
So instead of stewing over the same questions,. I decided to go to the tallest building in town. I would relax, and nobody would notice me there. As I got there, I flew down and demorphed.  
  
The thing that scared me was I was a really good morpher. With the others, the morphs are like hideous genetic experiments. But with me and Cassie, we could make it an art. I was just as good as her, but not quite as fast. For most, the process takes as much as two and a half minutes. For cassie and I, we are disappointed if it takes one whole minute....you know...  
  
But that wasn't the point. The point was what I figured out before. Before we went earlier, I figured something out, and the Ellimist confirmed it. What was it.  
  
'His presence changed time, and so he decided to give it a boost. He gave me the other half of the power, so that future doesn't exist!' oh, right. That entire demonstration...  
  
It was all fake. He said he was still going to show the future, even though I had already figured it out. That future was fake, and so was the more recent one. One Intervention.  
  
I get it now, that future was what was going to happen unless he intervened. But what would he have done differently? And what would him giving me power make different. I still couldn't control it....or could I?  
  
I was completely demorphed, so I closed my eyes and concentrated. When I opened them, I saw blue. Just a light tinge of it, but enough to notice. I took a few deep breaths and concentrated on a small handful of the pebbles.  
  
The pebbles each began to glow like little Christmas lights on a tree. A soft, but solid sky blue covered them. I then thought I wanted to make them come to me, and low and behold, the rose towards my hand.  
  
I grabbed them out of the air and the blue faded. I dropped them in shock. He really did give me a boost.....a boost?  
  
Did that mean I was as good as Sam? I hoped so, but considering I was on a tall building, I decided to leave it for a while. We would all be just fine as it was. But it was so cool to be able to do stuff like that.  
  
But still, I don't think that me having the same power was going to change that future, maybe make it not as harsh, but not stop it. But I think I needed to think things over. First of all, I think the Ellimist showed Sam saving himself to give it a sense of realism. But why. Why wouldn't he just tell us? Was there some sort of law to obey? I would never know, but oh well.  
  
And Sam was able to hold up an entire building and stop cruise missiles at the same time. Did this mean he got really good? I hoped not, not if that was the path he chose.  
  
And Will, why was he there? He didn't say anything, and he didn't make himself known, but he was there. Something big was going to happen, and it involved will. Did he play a big role. Did my honesty with him mean something was going to be drastically changed? But why Will? What made him such a big influence? Man, I made some bad decisions.  
  
But there was still one huge problem with it all. My dream. The Ellimist said the dreams were premonitions. All of them. So if he was intervening to stop that future, than why did I have the dream. The one where Sam said there was an entire species about to need a leader. That was what confused me the most. They were too close to not have some sort of connection.  
  
But maybe the Ellimist once again made that as a way to show me it was real. But I was able to figure it all out.  
  
Damn it! Why did this seem so difficult? The equation was simple. The Ellimist intervention =/=(does not equal.) the future he has shown us, so what was it he wanted us to do? There must have been something he wanted us to do.  
  
In the yeerk pool, he showed us an exit by making us go into the main pool. When we were in the future world, I saw three different towers. All very important towers. One was the Water tower. The one on the outskirts of uptown, powering the main city. In the city of the future, it was covered by something interesting. Same with the radio tower and the EGS tower. The three biggest towers in that apart of town, and all in a neat little triangle. What were they?  
  
Instead of dwelling on it, I morphed to falcon again and flew off. Maybe some flying would help ease my mind. Over the world I flew, trying to keep to myself, hoping nobody would recognize me, not realizing that was not the problem.  
  
As a falcon, I was flying over the city, and I saw the worst possible thing I could at this time in my life. It was my dad.  
  
You see, when I was first taken, my dad was out of town for the week on business. So they didn't immediately take him. At this point, I wasn't sure if he had been taken yet. I figured he wouldn't be taken, either. He was gone too much and he didn't, and wouldn't know anything.  
  
But nonetheless, seeing him in his truck on main street was kind of heartbreaking. I didn't know and wouldn't know whether or not he was one of them I really hoped he wasn't a controller.  
  
I will admit, though, I was tempted to go down and talk to him. Common sense made sure I didn't. I have learned my lesson by saying too much to Will. Somehow I knew for a fact that it was going to jump up and bite me in the ass.  
  
I decided the city wasn't going to help me. Only hurt me. I turned around and headed for the forest, to my home.  
  
On the way, I swung past the water tower. I thought, just maybe....  
  
But I decided to not jump to conclusions. On to home I went. With all fear of Sam gone, I had decided what I could do, the options were vast, and that is good.  
  
But of course, I had to talk to Tobias and Ax first. 


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14  
  
Over the forest I went, looking for Tobias and Ax. They were usually somewhere around the house, not too far away. But I couldn't find them.  
  
but right as I was about to give up and go home, I saw a lone Red- Tail hawk. {Tobias!} I called. No answer. So I called again, {Tobias!} still no answer, maybe it wasn't him.  
  
{Hello?} Tobias answered. I guess it was him.  
  
I swooped down a bit and got closer. {I need to know where Ax is.} I said.  
  
{Why, do you have some sort of plan?} he asked.  
  
{Well, kinda. I have a plan if what I think is true.} and man, I hoped I was right.  
  
He sighed. {well, if I knew where he was, I would tell you. And what might your plan be?} he asked.  
  
{I can't tell you. I don't want to get your hopes up unless it is true, you know what I mean?} I said. I think he understood. {Umm, if you see ax, tell him to meet me at the house. If I see him, I will do the same, and I will come and get you.}  
  
So we went our separate ways. There was one problem, though. I still wasn't sure if Ax could confirm what I thought, but it was worth a try.  
  
So over the next ten minutes, there was no answer, but I did hear Tobias yelling for ax in the distance. But there was no answer, as usual.  
  
It was actually me who found him. He was running in the thickest of bushes, far from our house. {Ax!} I called down. He stopped in his tracks.  
  
{Yes, Gordon?} he said.  
  
I swooped down and landed on a branch not too far from him. {what are you doing so far out?} I asked. He looked at me funny, like I was wasting my time.  
  
{I am exercising, why?} he said.  
  
{nothing, I need you to get back to the house. We have some things to discuss. Important things.} I said.  
  
{Why not Cassie's barn?} he asked.  
  
{because I don't have time to call a meeting, it is only me, you and Tobias.} I explained.  
  
{Oh, okay.} he answered, then turned and galloped away. I leapt off my branch and flew away myself.  
  
It took em a good five more minutes before I could find Tobias. When I did, I told him I found ax, and we both went back to the house. Ax was waiting for us outside already.  
  
I landed and demorphed. Tobias landed on the house. As soon as I was done morphing, I walked up to the house, Ax let me go by, confused.  
  
I grabbed a piece of paper and a pen, and went outside. Tobias and Ax were out there, with confused looks on their faces. Well, Ax had a confused look, Tobias had the always fierce gaze of the hawk he now was.  
  
Anyway, I whipped the pen and paper out, and set them on a bg, flat rock that just happened to be there. "Okay, when we went into the future, we were drawn towards the pool, right?" I asked around.  
  
Ax nodded and Tobias said, {Yes, why?}  
  
"Look at this." I said as I drew one big circle on the page. "This is this area of the city...." Then I drew some humps along the side of the page. "....and that is the forest." I looked up to see if they understood.  
  
{Yes, that looks like a very crude map, now what is it you wish to tell us?} Ax asked impatiently. It wasn't like him to be impatient. Usually he was quiet.  
  
I went back to the paper, and drew a big oval down the side of the forest humps. It was about three quarters of the page long and about half the page wide. "Let me finish before objecting, but I think this is the approximate area of the pool." I said as I drew three small circles around the oval. One at the end at the thin section, and one in the middle of each side of the long section.  
  
Then I drew a square at the other end of the oval. "That square is the mall. If you remember, that is where the pool ended. And the pool stretches to the heart of the city...." I pointed to the small circle farthest from the forest. "That there is the EGS Tower, I noticed it when we were in the future place."  
  
{Good for you, what does it all mean?} Tobias asked.  
  
"I can answer that..." I said. I then pointed to both the small circle closest to the forest and the one farthest from the mall square. "These are both the Radio Tower and the Water tower. The water tower isn't too far from the mall, and it is close to the forest." I explained.  
  
I got blank stares from both of them. And I am not going to tell you again that Tobias only has one stare.....  
  
But Ax said something. {Gordon, I fail to see where this is going, unless you are trying to put a bomb there, thus destroying half your city....} he trailed off.  
  
{Um, Gordon, I don't think you want to do that.} Tobias added.  
  
I gave my seriously heavy sigh and slumped. You know, the sigh where they are being so dense and I don't want to have to explain it, but will end up doing it anyway. "You just aren't getting it." I sighed again.  
  
{Getting what?} Tobias asked, puzzled.  
  
I shook my head and decided to give it from the top. "Okay guys, let me explain. When we were in that future world, we went to the yeerk pool. When we were there, we were at one end, at the mall. When I was looking around, I saw three big towers all on the perimeter of the pool. The Water tower on one corner, the radio tower on another, and right at the edge of the remaining town, the EGS tower was closest to the pool. And on top of that, when we came out the drop-shaft into the water tower. That means that is where the boundary is." I explained.  
  
{Gordon, I know you have somewhat a scientific mind, but I don't see the need to figure out the dimensions of the pool unless you are planning on attacking, then it is useless. And I don't think you are going to destroy the majority of the city....} he trailed off. {on second thought, how about we just accept the Ellimist's offer and get out of here, ignoring the whole idea.}  
  
I sighed and slumped again. "Tobias, Ax was kinda right, this Ellimist is not to be trusted. Okay? He is not going to take us to never- land or anything like that. He came here to try and help us, without doing it directly. He showed us what to do, and now we are going to do it, and change the future we saw into a future we want." I said.  
  
{Why would he come and tell us that, then?} Tobias asked.  
  
"Because, he wanted us to trust him. After he first talked to us, he talked to me personally. He told me a bunch of stuff, he gave me sam's power along with my own...."  
  
But Tobias cut me off. {He gave you Sam's power?} he asked.  
  
"Don't worry about it right now, we have a job to do." I said. "He told me that the future we saw was simply a possibility. But his interference was to make sure that didn't happen. That future is false. That is why he talked to us, to make us trust him, he showed us an exit, the drop-shaft. And he showed us an exit the second time, the towers mean something." I said. I was breathing heavily, barely able to contain myself.  
  
Then Ax's eyes open in wonder. {Those towers hold kandronas.} he said simply.  
  
"Exactly. He showed us the drop-shaft, and he showed us the kandronas. Think about it, if we took out the kandronas, this could all be over in three days, and there would be no more yeerks!" I was so excited, I could hardly contain myself. "I needed to make sure you knew that I was thinking kandronas. I wanted to know if you knew how it worked in the past."  
  
{Yes, that would make sense. The Kandronas would not be too far away, and they would be elevated!} Ax was excited too. He hated the yeerks as much as I did, if not more.  
  
{You are a genius, Gordon.} Tobias commented. {but one question, what made you figure it all out?}  
  
I did a half smile, I didn't really know how to answer this one. "Well, when he first came to us, he showed us the drop-shaft by not appearing until we were all in the main pool area. Then, afterward, the Ellimist talked to me, told me that I was important, and whatever I did would be huge. So I realized that without his intervention, I, and all of us, would have been dead. So he was trying to save us.  
  
"When I went home, I realized that time was feeble, and even I could change it. He gave my power a boost to change that. Then I realized the second time we went to his dream world that he was trying to show us something. So I looked and found the answers in the towers." I said. Man, I was proud. I even struck a hero pose. Look at me go.  
  
{That is amazing, you must do nothing but try to find ways to hurt the yeerks, and this time you may have outdone yourself.} Tobias said.  
  
{But what is in the mall? The EGS tower, or whatever you called it, and the water tower could easily store a kandrona. The radio tower could hold a small one if hologuised. But what about the mall? What use did it have?} Ax asked. Damn Ax, always raining on my parade.  
  
"I don't know, and I think we should worry about one at a time." I said. "And we should probably go and tell Jake the news." I said.  
  
{Wait a minute. If you said the Ellimist gave you the power, then why aren't you using it} Tobias asked accusingly, like I was a liar.  
  
"Fine, if it helps, then before I leave, I will give you a presentation. But be warned, I don't think I want to abuse it yet, or let sam know about it when he gets back. I want to keep it a secret." I said. I extended my hand, palm up. My eyes went blue, and Tobias rose from the side of the house and levitated onto my hand. I could only hope he didn't poop out of surprise.  
  
He tried to flap, but I made sure his wings didn't extend until he was on my hand. Then he flew back up to the roof.  
  
"There, are you happy?" I said. "Now don't say a word." I began to morph to peregrine falcon. "I will get Marco and Cassie. Tobias, you get Rachel, and Ax, Get Jake.} I said. My speech went from human to thought speech very smoothly.  
  
Ax began to morph, and I was off! Tobias was quick to follow. 


	15. Chapter 15 Whitney

Chapter 15 (Whitney)  
  
Wow. That was all I could say. I honestly didn't know what the hell to say. That trip shocked me.  
  
But there was one good thing about it all, it really made Sam begin to spill his guts.  
  
"You know I would never do that." He was saying.  
  
"I know that, but I am not the one you have to convince." I said back.  
  
He just sulked. "Well, you know Jake, he will try and mess with me again." He complained. Man, that was getting old quick.  
  
"Since when do you care what Jake says?"  
  
He straightened out. "I don't, and never will, but I don't need enemies. What I am trying to say is that I don't need him trying to kill me, getting in the way of me kicking ass." He smiled, so did I .  
  
"I guess, but still, if you were to get rid of that yeerk...." He cut me off.  
  
"I can't do that, not yet. We have a plan, I don't need anyone ruining that for us."  
  
I sighed, I didn't know what to say. He was stubborn as a mule. "Well, I think if you got rid of the yeerk, then Jake would trust you." I said simply.  
  
"Nobody but you knows I have it." He said. "Remember, only you."  
  
Right, he hasn't told anyone. But there was still the matter of the future that the Ellimist showed us. According to that, sam was going to go ballistic. On the rest of the Animorphs, I could see that, but not me. And why was Will there?  
  
But then a question occurred to me. "Sam, what is the name of the yeerk in your head?" I asked.  
  
"Illnith 182." He answered immediately. "Why?"  
  
I shook my head, I figured as much. "In the future world, they kept calling you Illnith." I said. Sam's face went blank. I could tell he was having some sort of discussion with the yeerk. It was weird.  
  
"Well, all I can say is that Illnith does not control me, and that is that." back to the stubborn Sam. I shook my head.  
  
"Prove it."  
  
His face went blank, he was talking to the yeerk again. After a short pause, he said "fine." He tipped his head to the side and I saw the wet, slimy beginnings of a yeerk come out. It was weird, but after a few seconds, he had the yeerk in his hand, and he held it out to me. "See?" He said, then put it back in.  
  
"I don't think that is proof." I said. "When you first let the yeerk 'die', how did you do it? I mean, we saw you let the yeerk out, so where did it come from?" I asked. It was a question that had been tickling the back of my mind since he told me he was still harbouring a yeerk.  
  
He shrugged. "I dunno. Ask the yeerk." He laughed.  
  
"How?"  
  
"Never-mind. Anyway, it was pretty weird, and I am surprised it worked. Before you guys got there, I had let Illnith refresh, and when he came back in, I asked him if we could make this work. He said my body would hold two, or maybe even three yeerks, but only one could control at a time. So we let another one come in, but not control me. I let Illnith have a hold of some of my brain to control the telekinesis so the yeerk wouldn't come out. Actually, I was surprised to see it worked, even in unconsciousness."  
  
I just sat there, somewhat openmouthed. I was surprised, impressed, and appalled that Sam would do that much to help a yeerk, and it worked!! "You really do want to keep him around, but why? What do you get out of it?"  
  
"A chance at killing Visser three." He said simply.  
  
"But why can't you just get the advice from him now and leave him?"  
  
"I plan on making it work for both of us. If he tells me what I need as I need it, then he sticks around. If he tells me it all now, he runs the risk of being out of a host, and he doesn't want that. And I won't let him go back to the other yeerks, there is still a trust thing here."  
  
I shook my head slowly. He was right, he needed him, and he didn't want to lose him. He only kept him around for info, nothing else. I had to keep telling myself that.  
  
"But is there no other way?" I asked meekly.  
  
"Probably, but I can't find it. Tell me if you do. And don't even consider offering to take him, I fear you won't have the same control I do. Whether his inability to control is because of my abilities, or because he was fried, it doesn't matter. I will not risk it." he said.  
  
"I wasn't going to even make mention of that. I can't even kiss you without feeling bad. It is too odd for me. There has to be another way." Now I was sulking.  
  
And we left it at that. Neither of us had much to say. I had reason to want that thing gone, but I still believed sam knew what he was doing. As I said, I trusted Sam, always have and always will, but considering the whole future thing, I just didn't know anymore.  
  
So we each had some time to ourselves. I had no clue what to do, so I tried to remember as much of the future as I could. The world. It was weird, not so different from our own, but not the same, either. The sky was a different colour, and the buildings were all clean. That really stuck out for me.  
  
Why would the buildings be clean. The future Sam said it was his home, then why didn't he leave? He could have. He may have had people trying to kill him, but he had yeerk technology. Damn yeerk.  
  
Wait a minute, I see why I wasn't there and Will was. The yeerk in Sam must have gotten rid of me. I would have been in the way, so he got rid of me. But that didn't make sense, I could see Sam let the yeerk out. Was it another trick, or was it an act. Was the yeerk simply trying to pretend sam didn't have control to lure sam into letting him use him?  
  
But then why would he not try to go back to his fellow yeerks? It would seem he would do better with an army...unless he was trying to kill the Visser and gain ranks!  
  
In the dream world, sam was by himself, a god in the yeerk world. He was by himself and very, very powerful. The entire time, the human missiles were trying to blow the place up. The dracon cannons stopped some, the shields stopped some, and sam stopped some.  
  
But there were a few problems with that whole situation. Why were the people opposing Sam's little town using cruise missiles? It didn't make sense to me. And how realistic was that? If you thought about it, there wouldn't be human weapons. And on top of that, why did that world seem so fake?  
  
Come to think of it, time travel is tricky. The slightest change could drastically change the future. If Hitler's mom had the abortion she was planning on, there wouldn't have been a second world war.  
  
But when you thought about it, what would make you think that seeing the future would change anything? I mean, I guess it had already happened, and you hae to take into consideration sam said he remembers being here, so he was there, watching us see him. If that was the truth, then it was all real.  
  
And when the building fell on my Sam, he stopped it, like it mattered. Like he was trying to save himself......  
  
But I was missing one completely relevant point. The being that sent us there was 'all powerful.' Who was to say he wasn't making it all up to make us realize something? By the sounds of it, he could just make up anything. It was kind of scary. But if he was trying to show us something, what was it? Was he trying to turn everyone on Sam?  
  
I looked at him, he gave a little wave as he played with his guns. It was odd, like he was toying with me. I had decided there was noting wrong with Sam. He was honest. And I would do anything to prove that.  
  
But then again, what was the Ellimist trying to do? Was he trying to show us something else? I doubted it. But then again, there was a lot of info given.  
  
I couldn't help but try and figure out what was really going on. There must have been some key points here. The unrealistic city, the human missiles, and the fact that I wasn't there pretty much said that none of it was true. But Sam was honest, and he tried to sve himself, and the yeerk name was correct. That all made me think it was true.  
  
But something was missing. Why was will there, what was the missiles targets, why couldn't Sam leave.  
  
Wait a minute, the missiles were targeted on the tallest things in the city. The force field generators, and what appeared to be the power source for the yeerks.  
  
Power source?  
  
Could it be? All three of the tall towers were on the edge of the yeerk pool. Did it mean something? Was it the kandrona? Was that why Sam cared so much? Was it Illnith's only source for life?  
  
You know what? I think I had a solution to every problem here. If these towers were, in fact, kandronas or such, then this was an awesome opportunity. I could test Sam's loyalty and hurt the yeerks at the same time. It was a golden opportunity!  
  
I got up and walked over to Sam. "Get up, I have a task for you." 


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16 (Gordon)  
  
As we flew to get Jake and them, I was so excited. Here was a great opportunity, and we just had to capitalize.  
  
So, about fifteen minutes later, we had the entire group in the barn. Cassie, who was there already, doing her stuff in the barn. Ax, who was very much eager to hurt the yeerks. You could even see it on his face, that was rare, to see excitement on Ax. Tobias sat in the rafters, being hawklike as usual.  
  
Rachel seemed to already know what we were thinking, and Marco had figured it out too. From the limited info we told him, he already knew what we were planning on doing.  
  
In fact, the first things out of his mouth as soon as we were all settled was, "You are all insane." He shook his head in disbelief. "It is as simple as that."  
  
Rachel laughed, "Come on, even you have to admit, it is a good insane."  
  
Cassie got up from doing her chores. "Okay, guys, I want to know what this master plan of yours is."  
  
"Calm down, you will all know in a minute." I said as I tried to calm them.  
  
The Marco busted my bubble. "We found the Kandrona." He said simply. Actually, I was surprised he knew that much. I never told him.  
  
{We 'think' we found the Kandrona.} Tobias corrected.  
  
{I am fairly certain that the kandrona is there, it would make sense in this type of environment.} Ax said.  
  
"Can I finish?" I asked politely.  
  
"No, I already know what you are going to say. 'Lets all destroy the kandrona!' or in other words, 'lets all make ourselves even higher on the yeerk's most wanted list.' I mean, come on, what makes you think we could pull this off? As soon as we got it, they would be all over the place and we would be dead."  
  
I looked around, everyone agreed with Marco, and I ave to admit, he was right. But quite frankly, we had stuff to do, and dammit, war wasn't worth fighting unless you were able to stop them somehow, and this would do just that.  
  
But instead of letting me make my great argument, Jake got up, catching all our attention. "Look, Marco's right." I saw Marco get a huge smile, but it was crushed a second later. "But this is too much of an opportunity to pass up. I say we do a vote."  
  
As usual, the almighty democratic vote.  
  
"Those for." I said as I put my hand up. Rachel, Ax, and Tobias all put their hand up. Well, Tobias tried to raise a wing, but fell on hi side.  
  
{Sorry,} he said. {but I vote for go.}  
  
Then Marco spoke up. "I say we wait, I mean, sure, this is big, but it is too early. We don't want them riding our asses for the next year. I would prefer to let them leave it as it is, and do it later."  
  
"But Marco, wouldn't it be better to do it now, nip it in the bud?" Rachel asked. Marco just king of bobbed his head in question. We had him caught there.  
  
"Don't you think that is a little harsh?" Cassie said. "I mean, there has to be another way. We aren't mass killers, imagine how many of them will die." She pleaded.  
  
I did another of my sighs that said everyone was being an idiot. "Cassie, that is the idea! We want to kill them, they invaded us ad are trying to kill us. So don't give me any of that. They started it. If you kill in defence, then it is okay. We didn't want this. So what is the big deal?" I was pretty worked up!  
  
Then Cassie looked at me with a look of pity. "Gordon, how much better do you think of the person who killed people in defence? Especially at this scale. How much better is it if we kill hundreds, thousands maybe?"  
  
"Cassie, if we don't do it, then they will kill even more. Would you kill a thousand people to save a million?" I asked rhetorically.  
  
"Not if there was another option!" Marco said defiantly.  
  
{There is no other option.} Ax said.  
  
"Ax is right, if we can do this, then they might go away. They might be scared to come back, if we do them enough damage." Rachel said. I smiled.  
  
Marco snorted. "You actually think this will hurt them? I think you are all naive. What on earth would make you think this would stop them. They probably have backup, and all it would do is piss them off. So we destroy a kandrona, they suffer a bit, then get another one and come back even more pissed off. Hmph, how stupid."  
  
{Who says they have another, it looks like they have three kandronas, which is, according to ax, way more than enough to support this pol here and the one on the pool ship.} Tobias said.  
  
{This is true, the power of three kandronas is massive, and one could reach as far as the pool ship would be in orbit. It seems the yeerks are focussing their sources here on earth.} Ax confirmed.  
  
"Then it is a perfect time to attack!" Rachel said enthusiastically.  
  
"I still don't know, this seems so be pretty big. I still say the defence would be amazing! I still say wait."  
  
I noticed Jake was silent this entire time. You could tell he was thinking, trying to decide what to think, who to side with.  
  
So I said to him, "Jake, what are your thoughts?"  
  
He got back up, and paced a little. "Well, I can see where all of you are coming from. Yes, it does seem like too good an opportunity to pass up, and yes, it seems like the reaction could be too great for us to deal with, but I say we do it. As long as it is done right."  
  
Rachel and I both pumped our fists into the air, I hoped that was the plan. And no matter what was said, I would try and go for it anyway.  
  
"Well, the votes sa we go, and I can see why. Also, I am sure if sam was here, he would try to do it anyway, but I think we should do what we can." Jake continued. Marco shook his head, Cassie seemed disappointed. "But like I said, we have to do it right. Gordon, you said three towers, right?"  
  
"Yes." I answered. "The EGS tower, the water tower, and the radio tower."  
  
"Well, if it is in fact three places, then we will need three teams. Excluding Tobias, who can't morph, we have six people. That means three groups of two."  
  
"We know how to count." Marco mumbled.  
  
But Jake ignored him. "We definitely can't do one at a time, they will pick up fast and up the defence, possibly cutting us off at the last tower. That could, as Marco put it, be disastrous."  
  
"Stupid, really." Marco added.  
  
But Jake ignored him again. "Tobias could fly between the three buildings, informing everyone of how progress is doing."  
  
{Got it.} Tobias said.  
  
"But there really is no true way to discover what group to go in, so lets draw straws." he bent over and picked up six straws. He cut them all off to three certain lengths. Then he balled them into his fist and held them out. "Pick one."  
  
{I do not understand.} Ax said.  
  
I grabbed one, as did everyone else. "Just grab one, we will explain what it means when you get one.  
  
As it turned out, Rachel and Cassie both got the long ones. Marco and Jake got the medium ones, and the Ax man and I both got the short ones. "Ax, this means we will be working together. Cassie and Rachel will be on one tower, and Marco and Jake will be on another."  
  
{Oh, I see. Which building are we going to?} he asked.  
  
Good question. "Jake, where are we going?" I asked.  
  
Jake breathed heavily. "Okay, Gordon, you go to the Water tower, Rach, you can go to the EGS tower, and Marco, we are going to the Radio tower."  
  
"With my great powers of deduction, I think I figured it out, oh fearless leader. But seriously, what makes you think there will be anything there, I mean, there is nowhere to store anything on a mass of metal rods." Marco said.  
  
"There are platforms, and anything could be hidden in those drum things." Cassie said. She really changed her opinion fast.  
  
"It could be a way to talk to the mother ship." Marco joked.  
  
{Highly unlikely, the yeerks would not need any type of large receptor to communicate at that distance.} Ax replied. He didn't get the joke.  
  
"Oh, and we will do this tonight." Jake said. "It will be better in the dark."  
  
Man, this got more and more fun by the minute. Sure, soon was good, but this soon? 


	17. Chapter 17 Whitney

Chapter 17 (Whitney.)  
  
"No, there is no way in hell." Sam said after I told him the plan.  
  
"But why?" I whined like a three year old. He wasn't going for it. After I told him everything, he straight up refused it. He wouldn't do it, plain and simple.  
  
"Why us? I am sure almighty Jake would figure it out, or Marco, or even Gordon, for that matter. Why would we have to get involved?" He asked.  
  
I tried the oldest trick in the book, I went up and hugged him. "Because we care, and this is a war worth fighting." I could see him roll his eyes. He wasn't buying it. So I added, "Think of it as a way to redeem yourself."  
  
"Redeem myself?" He pushed me away and held me there. "I don't need to redeem myself. Not yet. Jake doesn't even know about Illnith, and I will do plenty of yeerk killing in the future.....shut up."  
  
I was confused. "Who, me?" I asked, hurt.  
  
"No, Illnith seems to think I will only kill Visser Three, and killing other yeerks is wrong." He explained.  
  
I pointed at him in triumph. "See! That is the kind of thing that will get you enemies! Letting that thing control your decisions." Ha!  
  
He rolled his eyes again. "What did I just tell you? I am not letting this guy control me, I swear!" He was really trying to scratch his way out now. But he was smiling the entire time, it wasn't working.  
  
"Whatever you say Sam." I pouted.  
  
"Don't give me that, I am not lying and you know it. Look, isn't there some other way to show I am loyal? I mean, come on. I may not need Illnith, but I want him long enough to kill Visser Three." He said.  
  
"Then I guess you have, like, a week to try and figure it out. Because if you don't go, I will tell them and get the rest of them to do it. Either way, I will have my way." I said as-a-matter-of-fact. Man, I was cocky.  
  
But what Sam said caught me off guard. "No, you won't." He shook his head slowly. The way he said it scared me.  
  
"And why not?"  
  
"I told you, I have no problem killing yeerks, but as it stands, I can't afford to lose Illnith right now. And what you are planning will have just that." He said.  
  
I took in a deep breath. "What are your priorities, me or that yeerk?" I asked, then added, "The enemy."  
  
"The enemy of the enemy is a friend, Whitney. We both want Visser Three dead, and to make sure it happens, I need him around. I don't want to jeopardize that. Imagine what kind of future we could have if we were to get rid of Visser Three."  
  
Now he was beginning to scare me. Between him wanting to keep Illnith alive and have Visser Three dead was making it look more and more like what the Ellimist showed us. "You know, I know you would never hurt me. But the way you are acting has me thinking maybe the Ellimist was right. Between Illnith and Visser Three, it seems like that future world."  
  
He had nothing to say to that. He just kind of shook his head slowly. "I can't say anything more, can I? You will never listen. Look, you know as well as I do that the future thing was just an illusion. Time is a little more delicate than that. I don't believe a word of that. I think that the whole concept of it looking realistic is a ploy, to scare the bunch of you. To trick you into trying to kill me. Either way, I can't let you do that, not yet."  
  
I shook my head. I had no clue what to say. I just shook my head in dismay and turned around. I began to morph. "You better decide where your loyalties lie....." I trailed off as my mouth deformed into a beak.  
  
I finished my morph and flew off, leaving Sam there on the mountainside plateau with a confused look on his face.  
  
But suddenly I was stopped in midair. My wings instantly tucked in and I was lowered back to the ground. Was this the Ellimist? No, the world hadn't stopped. I looked around and saw Sam. How stupid, of course it was him.  
  
"Give me a while." He said softly.  
I was hesitant, but did eventually begin to demorph. {Fine, as long as you make me a promise.} I said.  
  
"What kind of promise?" He asked.  
  
"You have to pick me over him." I said. I had completed my morph.  
  
"No problem. He is only here temporarily." He said, smiling.  
  
But something tickled up underneath my consciousness. It was a sudden stab of, 'why'? So I asked. "Sam, of all reasons, why does this Illnith Character want to kill Visser Three?"  
  
Sam nodded a bit. "He is an assassin. He was sent here by Visser One to kill Visser Three. He was once a Visser, but now he is 'dead'." He made little quotations with his fingers. It looked stupid on him. "And on top of that, Visser Three gave him a hard time, he also wants revenge. Good enough?" He asked.  
  
I shook my head out of the daze. "Yeah, super."  
  
All that day, I could see Sam off in his own little world. I could tell he was trying to make some sort of a deal with Illnith.  
  
That was a good thing, but I couldn't get over how he was actually letting this thing stay inside of him. I mean, if you knew Sam personally, then you would know he would never actually rely on anyone else. He would go out and do it all by his lonesome.  
  
And on top of that, I couldn't believe I had actually stuck around, knowing what he was. Personally, I was kinda scared for what may happen to him. Too many things were blended together, and made sense. For once, I wanted it to be confusing, fake. Not dead on. All I could do was hope the Ellimist was simply steering us in a direction, and not truly warning us the way he said he was.  
  
So I have hopefully convinced Sam to help me and the rest of the Animorphs. He was reluctant, but I felt he would do the right thing, if it was really him, and he wasn't lying about him controlling the yeerk, and not the other way around. Come to think of it, I had no way to truly believe the yeerk wasn't just pretending to not have control so he could catch him by surprise. Man, I had to have some faith in Sam to allow this to go on as long as I have.  
  
I thought maybe Sam was right, though. Maybe the others were already planning. Between Jake and Marco, I am sure they would have figured it out. I guess this was simply my way to prove to myself that Sam was on my side, not the yeerks. Either way, I had hope.  
  
Anyway, later that night, Sam came to me. I was dangling my legs off the side of a rock, enjoying the night sky. I was waiting for Sam to talk to me. And when he did, he was fidgeting. "Umm, Illnith and I have come to a conclusion. I don't know how to sat his, but we have decided to help under one condition. When he dies, which he will, I want you to keep it a secret. Jake doesn't need a reason to hunt me down and try to stop us."  
  
"Stop you from what?" I asked.  
  
"The Kandrona goes boom, we have three days. We are both dedicated to our goal, and we have decided that his life is over anyway, he might as well help. Considering I am almost sad to let him go, we have decided that it is for the best." He said.  
  
I was happy to hear it, so I let him continue.  
  
"But if we were to go into town, I would have to go to the yeerk pool and replenish him, so we had the maximum time to finish our task. And I mean, not a word. I don't want to mysteriously hear Jake start talking about Illnith. We all know his time is almost up." he was solemn. It was weird.  
  
So that was that. We came to an agreement, and off we went. I was an owl, and he was him, both flying over the forest towards civilization. Somehow I felt that plateau, that valley would be useful again someday.  
  
But the first stop was his house. I asked him why, he said he needed some explosives. He had a stash of C-4. How he got a hold of these things was beyond me. The guns, the bullets, and the hoard of dracon beams. Man, he was an arsenal.  
  
As we left, I saw someone go to the house. With my owl vision, I could see it was Gordon. Sam told me to be quiet and keep going. They would be fine on their own. I kinda agreed, but Sam was being awfully rude about it.  
  
Overall, I ended up waiting on top of a building as Sam went and disappeared. I hoped for the best, but it was a good half hour before he came back. He said the yeerk was full, and it was time to get to work. It was 8:45, I checked the huge clock-tower. After that, we went and did our business. 


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18 (Gordon)  
  
So Ax and I had to do the water tower. Sounds easy enough, but what the hell was I supposed to do? I didn't know what the properties of the kandrona was, either.  
  
So I had an alternative. I decided to use bombs. Sam had a stash of C-4 in the house. He once taught me how to trigger a bomb. It was pretty useful, taking a page out of Sam's book. The only problem was that Ax and I didn't have any morphs that would carry the C-4 and the detonator.  
  
So Ax and I decided to sneak into Cassie's barn before the mission. We both understood the possible ramifications, but were ready to deal with them appropriately.  
  
{Are you sure this is a good idea?} Ax asked. He was in his real form in the barn. Tobias was not around, so Ax was keeping sure nobody unwanted came into the barn. He kinda had one eye out the door.  
  
Meanwhile, I was looking for a bird big enough to carry the stuff. Golden eagle, bald eagle, anything big. A condor would be ideal, but there was not a big chance there would be any in this area.  
  
But I did manage to find a bald eagle with a broken wing and a golden eagle with one less leg. That was a bad one, especially in a bird that big. "Come here, I have us some interesting birds." I said, waving him over.  
  
So he acquired the bald eagle and I acquired the golden eagle. {Can we leave now? We are expected to start in less than an hour. And if I understand your plan correctly, then we will need time to properly plan.} Ax said. He was paranoid.  
  
"Ax-man, just morph. We have got what we came here to do, let's just go and do what we have to do." I said. So we both morphed our previous raptor morphs and flew out through the hayloft into the night. It was only like 8:15, so we had at least 45 minutes before anything happened.  
  
The thing was that we weren't supposed to meet, just go to the respected locations. Tobias was supposes to be our eyes and ears. Right then, he was probably with Cassie. Cassie and Rachel were going for the EGS Tower, so they would have the most problems, with security and all.  
  
I still didn't see how Marco and Jake were supposed to destroy the Radio tower. I hoped they would figure it out. Either way, I had plenty of ways to screw up my own, I didn't need to be thinking about that.  
  
So back to the house I went, to get the C-4 I placed there earlier. But when I got there, I noticed some were gone. Where they were, I wasn't sure, but it was probably Sam. Oh, great, he was getting involved.  
  
But it was too late to think about it. I gathered up the C-4 and threw it outside so I could get it when I was ready.  
  
{Are we not going to get prepared?} Ax asked inquisitively.  
  
"We are as prepared as we are going to get." I said. It was dark, so I would have to be the Golden eagle, even though owl would be better. I did, however, know where the water tower was anyway. We would be fine.  
  
{How do you plan on attaching the explosives?} Ax asked.  
  
"With care." I answered. "I can use telekinesis, so I can dangle over the edge and do it that way. Igniting them can be done via a timer. As long as we are far away, we will be fine."  
  
{That does indeed sound farfetched. Are you sure you are confident enough to use the power to that degree?} he asked.  
  
I shrugged. "I guess we will find out soon enough."  
  
{I am not sure if I trust your plan.} he said curtly. And I could understand why. Hell, if I was him, I wouldn't trust me either. But oh well, I knew it would work. I was perfect and everything I did was perfect.  
  
You know, except getting me, Sam, and Tobias a trip to social death. Will was now a huge liability, and nobody trusted me. Yet I was perfect. Oh well, who says is isn's all for the better? If I hadn't screwed up, Sam wouldn't be here and we would never have understood what he could do.  
  
But at the same time, he wouldn't be this powerful and maybe he wouldn't get to be where the future was anyway...oh well. Man, time truly was tricky. Thank god I actually didn't have to comprehend it all.  
  
{Hello, are you there?} Ax was asking. I guess I dozed off.  
  
I shook out of my stupor and answered, "yeah, I am here."  
  
{Because it is about time to leave.} he said. What? There was no way I dazed of that easily and for that long. Oh well.  
  
"Well then, let's get going." I said. I started to morph to golden eagle. Ax began to morph to bald eagle. Just like Whit and Rachel. Let's just hope nobody confuses us.  
  
When I completed my morph, I walked over to the C-4. {Ax, get the detonator and the wires.} I said. He did without saying a word.  
  
But there was a problem. Sure, bald eagles and golden eagles often grabbed very heavy stuff, like ten pound salmon, but we were having trouble lifting a few pounds of equipment. {Ax-man, I think we need to be moving before we try to pick these up. We need momentum.}  
  
{I believe that would be necessary.} he answered.  
  
So we both let go of the stuff and flew into the air, which was difficult enough in the night air. When we finally got high enough, I told Ax I would go first.  
  
Down I went into the clearing, picking up the C-4. Ax was soon to follow. I was happy to see that I was right. It was easier to pick up when moving. So we went off into the night,  
  
On the way there, I saw the town in the distance was lit up by large buildings and cars. I couldn't even se stars over the city. Too much smog and light pollution. But we were on the edge of the town, so I could see the water tower and stars above us.  
  
{Is this the place?} Ax asked as I began to circle. We were not far from the water tower.  
  
{Yeah.} I said. {But you wait here. I am going to try and land on the top of the water tower, to make sure there isn't some sort of shield.} I explained.  
  
Without waiting for a response, I flew down. When I landed I was, well, pleasantly surprised to fall right through and onto a floor not too far down.. The top of the water tower was a hologram. {You can come in, Ax.} I called.  
  
{I'm coming.} he said. A second later, he came in quite a bit more gracefully than I did.  
  
I looked around. There was nobody here. Just us two birds. So I began do demorph. I noticed there was a huge cylindrical tank, flat sides up and down. It had glowing green rings around the edges. Actually, when I looked at it as a human, I could tell the outer black actually was made of a thick, cloudy clear substance. The black was almost glowing under it, but there was no light coming from it. It was weird.  
  
{This is the kandrona.} Ax said suddenly. I turned to see he was finished morphing too. His stalk eyes were scanning the walls. {There isn't any water in this water tower, so if we blow it up with your primitive explosives, then it will need to fall to be destroyed.}  
  
"Water would have shorted it?" I asked.  
  
{Any foreign liquid in the device would have basically thrown off the radiation wavelength it is emitting. An explosion would have cracked it and the water would have basically destroyed it instantly. But now we need to properly place the explosives to have it fall, or it will be savaged and it will all be in vain.}  
  
"Well, I think we can handle it. We just need to put the stuff in the right place." I said. "And it won't be outside. I didn't expect to be able to get inside. It would be better to do in here."  
  
{I agree, the explosion would be more confined and it would have more pressure.} he said. Usually, Marco would stop him and tell him to not to go on about all the techno babble, but it didn't bother me.  
  
But instead, I walked over to the side, where there was a hole in the ground. I assumed it led to the ladder that was supposed to take us down. When I looked down it, I could see that it was only a tunnel with some windows in it. I could see the water inside. This meant there was water. Come to think of it, why would they build a water tower just for a kandrona. The whole thing must be a hologram. Cool.  
  
"Ax-man, I think we have a solution." I said. He was right beside me, looking down as well. "Will this be enough water?"  
  
{Yes, if the bombs are placed in the right locations.} he answered.  
  
So we got to work. Putting the C-4 against the bottom of the kandrona equally around. But since it was up against the wall, we couldn't get it around that corner, but we were fine. Instead, we used the leftover to put on the floor on the other side of the wall.  
  
"You know.....I wonder where Sam gets ahold of this stuff. I mean....it is really rare, and hard to find." I said to Ax as I pushed the metal into the C-4. "I mean....this is military and covert stuff."  
  
{Sam does seem to be devoted.} Ax said.  
  
So we continued to place the stuff. When it finally came time to set the timer, I had to ask him, "So, how long do you think it will take to get out of here?" I asked.  
  
{Five of your earth minutes.} he said.  
  
So I began to set it for ten of our earth minutes. In case something went wrong. Hey, anything could happen. "Get morphing, I will be there in a minute." I said. And that he did. He began to morph to northern harrier as I checked the wires and connections.  
  
When I was sure everything was in place, I got up, dusted off my hands, and began to morph. {Ax-man, look at the time, I want to be able to tell the exact time when it is done.} I said.  
  
{There are 9 earth minutes and three earth seconds left.} he said.  
  
{Good, keep track of it like you always do. Now let's go.} Ax and I both flew off. I was a peregrine falcon and he was a northern harrier. And we were off! Through the hologram and into the night air. We flew as far away as we could without losing vision. Would be pretty far if it was day, but we ended up at the nearest house's roof.  
  
So we stood there, perched on the peak, waiting. After some time waiting, Ax informed me of the one earth minute countdown. Then the thirty second one, and the ten, nine eight, seven, six, five....  
  
I watched and my eyes opened with suspense. I couldn't wait to see the fireworks.  
  
Four, three, two, one.....  
  
BOOOM!!  
  
The night sky rumbled as the mid section of the water tower exploded and shot outwards. The water was blasted like a waterfall, soaking the nearby area. The top of the tower started to slip, and another explosion of green light erupted from inside.  
  
{That is the kandrona malfunctioning.} Ax confirmed.  
  
But I wasn't paying complete attention. My eyes were watching as the top of the tower just disappeared. It flickered and went out of existence. The hologram projector must have been destroyed.  
  
But then the last of the explosion took it's toll, the top of the tower finally fell the hundred feet to the ground. As we looked, I could see people coming out of the tower and looking around. They were now soaked and barely missed being crushed.  
  
As the water cascaded over the people, they went back in for shelter. There was no fire, just a big wreck of a water tower and a lot of water. Luckily, the water tower was in the middle of a huge field that sloped into the forest and into a creek. So there was no severe damage as the huge amounts of water covered the area.  
  
I spread my wings, but did not take off.{Ha!} I shouted, not actually directing it to anyone. {Take that!}  
  
{I do believe we should maybe see how the rest are working.} Ax suggested.  
  
But then I heard Tobias. {Wow!} he said as he flapped toward us. {That is great, and thank god I found you1} he huffed.  
  
{What?} I asked.  
  
{We need your help.} he said as he began to circle.  
  
{Who's 'we'?} I asked.  
  
Rachel and Cassie. The EGS Tower is heavily guarded and they can't go in unless they get backup. They need your help now that you are done, and make it choppy.} he said, then turned around ad flew away.  
  
{Well, let's go.} I said to Ax. We spread our wings and flew off. 


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19  
  
Through the night air we flew. Tobias, Ax, and I. But it was not silent.  
  
{So, how bad is it, is it because we blew up the other one?} I asked. We were all really far away, making sure nobody happened to see us and suspect anything.  
  
{No, it was like that when we got there, and we haven't went in. Considering Rachel has a bear morph, we were planning on charging in, but when we saw there were like ten guards there, we decided to get you to help. I already got Jake, but him and Marco are having problems with the radio tower. They won't be coming.} Tobias said.  
  
{Then what makes you think that our activities haven't already been noticed ant the guards haven't already increased?} Ax asked. Which was a good point. This wasn't looking very good.  
  
{Then I guess we go right in and do something before it begins to be too serious!} I said excitedly. Man, I was gating into this too much. We had already made a huge statement at the Water tower. Now we are going to do more. Cool!  
  
{Umm, I don't think that is the right attitude.} Tobias said.  
  
{Why not? I mean, we have already done so much, why not do more?} I said. I swear, if Tobias could shake his head, then he would have.  
  
{Do you not realize that ten guards is more than enough to kill us?} Tobias asked. {I mean, there are four of us. That means more than two each, we can't necessarily handle that.}  
  
I laughed. {Tobias, when are you going to learn some strategy? I mean, seriously. If we can take a few out quickly, then there are less to fight, and less at a time. Don't you worry. And Rachel has a bear now?} I asked as it suddenly registered in my mind.  
  
{Yeah, she said Elephant would be too much to fight in a building. Too big to be effective.} he said.  
  
{That would make sense.} Ax added briefly. But we were there. With my falcon eyes, I could barely make out two dark figures sitting beside a big vent or something. It was cassie and Rachel as far as I could tell.  
  
{Hey, is that you?} I called. They both raised their hands. It was them.  
  
{Of course it is, who else would stand around on a rooftop at nine PM?} Tobias asked sarcastically.  
  
{I was just calling to tell them we were here.} I said. {Lighten up.}  
  
So the three of us all landed right beside the two girls and began to demorph. The barely noticed. "So, glad to see you finally came." Rachel said as she continued to stare into town.  
  
{Good to hear it.} I said. {Here I come to save the day!} I shouted. But don't worry, only the ones on the roof heard me.  
  
"Well, aren't we Mr. Enthusiastic." Cassie said sarcastically.  
  
{Well, he did already destroy the water tower.} Tobias informed them. By then I had completed my morph. So I saw the twin bland looks on the faces of Cass and Rachel.  
  
"We figured as much. We saw some unexplained light in your direction. Where's jaek and Marco?" Rachel asked.  
  
{They are unable to come, they are still having difficulty with the radio tower.} Ax said calmly. It was amazing how he was able to keep control of his emotions so well. He should be at least a bit worried that we wouldn't be able to handle them.  
  
"Well, that isn't the best news we've heard tonight." Cassie said as she got up. "Well, if we are going to do this, then we have to do it fast. The guards may be coming soon after your success."  
  
Then Rachel got up to, "Get in there, hit fast, hit hard, and get out quickly!" She said with a raised fist.  
  
I joined her. "And kill 'em all!"  
  
"Isn't that a little much?" Cassie protested.  
  
Ax's tail twitched as I raised an eyebrow. "Cass, we are probably going to kill a few thousand yeerks here. And if we need to demorph for any reason, we don't need anyone to see us." I pointed out.  
  
She was reluctant, and disturbed, but I could feel she wasn't going to back down.  
  
"Well, let's do it!" Rachel encouraged. I could see her already tall frame grow brown, shaggy fur. Cassie shrunk and got the shaggy, silver grey fur of a wolf.  
  
Meanwhile, I grew large. Very large and green. I was morphing my hork bajir. My favourite battle morph. As soon as I was done, about the same time as Cassie, I walked up to the roof access door and tried to open it. It was locked.  
  
{Ax, could you handle this?} I asked.  
  
{No problem.} he answered. He walked up to the door and with a whip of his tail, the doorknob was gone.  
  
{Thanks.} Rachel said. {The kandrona is on the second floor from the top as far as we can see.} she said. She must have looked, but who was I to argue.  
  
I kicked open the door to show a square staircase. Ax was right behind me. Then Rachel and Cassie. I stormed down two levels, stopping long enough to ask Rachel if she was sure. {Rachel, are you one hundred percent sure it is the second from the top?}  
  
{Yes, Cassie and I both checked from outside the window. It is a fairly large room, two stories high. In it is a big black and green cylinder and ten hork bajir warriors.} she said.  
  
{Alright, let's get this party started.} I said. I heaved my hork bajir body into the door. Open it went, and the four of us stared into the eyes of ten half alert hork bajir guards. The peace was fleeting, as the first hork bajir saw Ax.  
  
"Andalite!" It shouted. They lunged at us. No weapons, for fear of destroying the kandrona. Just red bands around their arms.  
  
But we were quick to react. As the first got there, Rachel simply drove one in the gut with her shoulder and heaved him over her back. Ax managed to move nimbly to the side and cut ones hand off.  
  
I simply blocked the nearest guy and pushed him into the wall. It wasn't until then that I noticed this room was definitely made originally for humans. It had a carpet, furniture, and a fireplace to boot. It even had plants around the outside edges.  
  
But there was no time to worry about that. Instead I had three hork bajir on me. To one side, I sw Ax was fending off two, and Rachel, well, she was well in her own. Cassie was simply dodging and running long enough to keep them away from us.  
  
But I had three, and that was work enough. The first came at me and tried to slash at my face with his wrist blade. I caught the hand and moved my head out of the way. I made sure the back of the arm was facing up and I forced my arm down on it. I could hear the audible snap as the bone broke and came out through the skin. I left him to deal with the bone himself.  
  
Both the other two came at me, I leapt for the first, tackling him. He fell down and pushed me over his back. I flipped and tried to steady myself on my feet. When I turned around, the other one was jumping over the fallen one. I did the first thing that came to mind. I jumped back at him, feet first. The dropkick sent him sprawling.  
  
But the other one was already getting up, and I was off balance. Luckily, the train that called itself Rachel was barrelling over to us. She caught the hork bajir in a tackle from behind and carried him long enough to have him hit the wall. Another loud snap echoed it's way across the room. I had to roll out of the way.  
  
Instantly, I had another three on me. Two of Rachel's and the last of mine. I dodge rolled out of the way and let Rachel tackle yet another one. Down it went and the wind was knocked out of it.  
  
But I had two still after me. I ran to the fireplace and picked up one of the pokers. The ones with the hook on the end. Oh, yeah! As soon as I had it, I spun around and swung it as hard as I could. It connected solidly with the closest hork bajir's beak. Shards of it went flying and it howled.  
  
I pushed it out of the way and kicked the one behind it in the chest. He went flying back a few feet and landed on it's hindquarters. I went to run towards it, but the hork bajir behind me grabbed my tail. I almost fell, but instead turned around and swung again. I missed this time, because he ducked.  
  
But I was quick and managed to thrust it straight forward as he put his head back to where it was supposed to be. The poker managed to go straight through it's neck, coming straight out the back. I continued to push until it was in the wall. The hopeless hork bajir slashed for three seconds before going limp. As I stared, I could see the life in it's eyes dim.  
  
It was that moment when I began to waver. What would happen if that was me? They were only doing their job, and now he was dead. We attacked him this time, not the other way around, and now both he and the host he was in died. I managed to see the yeerk attempting to slither out, but death captured it quickly.  
  
You see, I know a bit about yeerk physiology. All that sam taught me. I know that the yeerk feels the pain of the host, and when the host dies with a yeerk in it, the yeerk dies too.  
  
Thinking this made me not realize when the other hork bajir began to attack me from behind. He kneed me in the kidney, or what would be a human kidney, and the blade went right up beneath the ribs. It hurt like a bitch, but I endured it.  
  
He began to slash at my back, but I turned around and hit him with the backside of my balled fist as hard as I could. He staggered, but didn't fall. He came back up to slash at me, but I caught the fist and squeezed as hard as I could.  
  
You see, the hork bajir I acquired was a personal guard to Visser Three, so it was bigger than the others. I overpowered the enemy long enough to bring it to it's knees. I grabbed his head with my other hand and brought my knee up, placing a knee blade in it's jaw, coming right up through it's skull and stopping at the base of it's own head blade.  
  
The body instantly sagged like it was a puppet who's strings had been cut. It was a horrible sight. When I looked over, I saw Rachel with a hork bajir on her back and one under her, mangled beyond recognition.  
  
I let my reaction guide me, because I could no longer think.  
  
I barrelled over and tackled the hork bajir. He fell off Rachel and when he rose he was greeted by the tail blade of Ax. He lost his head.  
  
When I got up, I was shaking. But we won. {See,} I said shaky, uncertain. {take them out, one by one, then we have less to fight.} I began to demorph. I was losing blood fast. Rachel also demorphed as she fell off the mangled hork bajir.  
  
Cassie went over to the window to demorph. She didn't want to look at the mess. And I could see why, her jowls had no blood on them. Just on her shaggy coat could you see where her bleeding attackers spilled on her. My blades, Rachel's fangs, and Ax's tail blade were all stained with blood.  
  
But I was getting ready to leave. Ax was trying his best to clean the blade off on the ground, unsuccessfully, I might add.  
  
Rachel and I were demorphing, cleaning ourselves off that way. We were both on the ground, panting, exhausted.  
  
"I think we should morph birds, and get the hell out of here." Cassie said while she was staring out the window. Her body never moved and she sounded like she was about to cry. But she was right. The three of us all began to morph to our respective morphs.  
  
Rachel, on the other hand, was morphing elephant. "We came here to achieve a mission, and that would be pointless to kill them all to not do it." as the morph continued, we all stayed at the side, as birds.  
  
It wasn't long at all before she was pushing the big kandrona across the carpeted room and into the window. As it first got there, the glass cracked, leaving huge spiderwebs. Then they began to shoot out as the glass started to fall apart. After a few good heaves, the kandrona was balancing on the edge. A human could have pushed that over.  
  
So she demorphed. With the part that was supposed to be inside literally hovering an inch above the ground, she pushed it as a human and watched it fall sixty stories to it's destruction. She watched it all as a human, to add insult to injury, in a way.  
  
She did her final morph and we all flew home together, not saying much at all, we were all very exhausted and ashamed. 


	20. Chapter 20 Sam

Chapter 20 (Sam)  
  
8:45 PM  
  
So this was it. This was the mighty plan.  
  
{You don't have to do it.} the voice in my head was saying. That voice was Illnith.  
  
{I thought we decided this was for the best.} I said. You see, we had come to the conclusion that if we didn't do this, we would be given more trouble than it was worth. We decided to get on with it, because if we didn't, those pitiful Animorphs would do it anyway, and my loyalty would be hurt.  
  
You see, he would help me in whatever way he could, and I would fulfill his final wish by killing Visser Three. It was a win-win situation. Kinda.  
  
{I know, but I really wish it could be done some other way.} he said.  
  
{Don't go back on your word now, we made the decision, and we will stick to it. I realize that may be hard for you to digest, but it is the way it is going to happen.} I explained. And it was the truth, I would do this no matter what.  
  
So we took Whitney and placed her on a roof while we went and replenished Illnith in the pool. It was the same as last time, we went into the pool in the same place and exited the same place. When we finished, it was 8:45. That meant I had three days to accomplish the task.  
  
{And I truly hope you can do it, Sam.} the yeerk sneered.  
  
But I ignored him, damn it, I had a job to do, no matter the cost. In fact, I had many jobs to take care of, but they would all come in time. Right now, I had Whitney and the Animorphs to deal with.  
  
Before I went to replenish, we went to the house and picked up the C- 4. And it isn't any of your business how I got it. That information is classified. Either way, I only took some of it, C-4 was fairly potent.  
  
But as we left, I saw Gordon go in, he didn't see me. It was better that way. At least that way I knew he was in fact doing something and I wasn't sacrificing my time for nothing.  
  
So afterwards, Whitney and I went to see the three towers, to make sure they were alright. I actually saw when the water tower was blowing up, and when Gordon and Ax went to help the EGS tower group. We watched from above. Seeing that those two groups were alright, Whit and I decided that the radio tower was the one that needed the most help.  
  
So over we went to the radio tower, where we saw Jake and Marco. They were both on the tower as Chimpanzees. What they were planning on doing as chimps was beyond me.  
  
{Jake, Marco!} Whitney called down.  
  
{Whitney?} Jake called as he looked up.  
  
{Yeah, what are you doing?} she called back.  
  
{Trying to destroy this tower, come down here, we need your help!} Marco said. What confused me was that they knew she was a bird. I could barely see them and there was no way in hell he could see us. And quite frankly, I didn't see how being a chimp was going to help bring down a building. That was like using a handgun on a tank, it was just futile.  
  
So instead of listening to them babble on about how ignorant they were, I flew my way down and landed on one of the platforms below them.  
  
About twenty feet above me were the big drum-like things that relayed the information. I figured they were the best place to start.  
  
{Sam?} Marco asked nervously.  
  
"Yes, it is me." I said wryly. "Got a problem with it?" You see, I knew they would be suspicious, I wanted to put them in their place, show them who's boss.  
  
{Sam, that isn't the way to win trust.} Whitney said suggestively.  
  
I wanted to answer, but I had nothing to say that wouldn't evoke some sort of curiosity from Jake and Marco. So I kept my mouth shut.  
  
{So now Whitney thinks you care?} Illnith asked.  
  
{I still don't need them in the way, that is the main thing.} I said. He was quiet after that. Good, he should keep to himself.  
  
So I flew up to Jake and Marco. "So, how do you plan on actually destroying a tower as monkeys?" I laughed.  
  
{Well, we were going to make sure there was something here before we did anything. What better way to climb something than a monkey?} Marco said.  
  
I rubbed my chin inquisitively. "Well, sherlock, when you did find something worth destroying, what were you going to do, punch it? I mean, come on, there is nothing you can do to destroy something that large, at least in those bodies."  
  
{What do you suggest, then? Oh mighty Sam.} Jake asked. It wasn't like him. Sure, I knew he didn't like me, but he was usually nice about things....oh well.  
  
"Well..." I opened my coat, pulling out some of the C-4. "...this is probably the most effective for something like this." I said.  
  
{What is that, and where did you get it?} Marco asked.  
  
Silly Marco. "Ah, yes. This, my friend, is C-4. A very potent explosive, and it isn't any of your business where I got it. The point is, we are going to blow up this tower in a very effective way. And I have to hand it to you, at least you were smart to look. If there is anything here, then it will either be in those drums or hidden in a hologram somewhere. I wouldn't want to blow up more than I need to." I explained. I think they understood.  
  
{That means we have to search this entire radio tower.} Jake said. {Inside and out.}  
  
{Well, not so much inside, just stick your hands in to see if it disappears. If it does, then we have a kandrona or something.} Marco said.  
  
Then the first person I would expect to know made a revelation. {You know, we would not go through so much trouble to put one here. Two is more than enough.} Illnith said.  
  
{Well then, explain why this building was shielded in that future world.} I said.  
  
{I am not sure, maybe it is used in the future. That world could have been made to imitate any time period.} he explained. I thought he was full of shit.  
  
{Are you trying to hide something?} I asked suspiciously. He didn't answer. So I flew my way up and started climbing in through the rails and trying to find any type of imperfection. That would be our force-field.  
  
But after ten minutes of searching, we found nothing in the tower, and I heard an explosion far off over the quiet city night. That was the cue to hurry up, our time was up, unless there truly wasn't anything there.  
  
Oh well, we would blow the shit out of it anyway!  
  
{I am telling you, there won't be anything here.} Illnith advised.  
  
{Shut up.} I said quietly, then went back to work.  
  
Then Whitney came into view, I could see she had something to say. And sure enough, I was right. {Hey, guys. I have been watching, and I have a question......why haven't you touched the drums? They could be hiding stuff, and I am in no condition to come down there and help.} she said. And it was true, she had nothing to do anything here, oh well, I guess this really was a test.  
  
I guess I passed.  
  
Either way, I looked down to see the other two staring a each other. They were stupid. I would have said something, but I was ignorant all the same. Oh well, I let it slip.  
  
{Well, Sam. You are closest, why don't you try and figure it out?} Marco bugged. {You are the closest.} actually, I was as far away as Marco or Jake, to the top. They were below it. So I went anyway.  
  
I climbed down the radio tower and made my way to the drum things. And whaddaya know, when I touched it, I felt nothing. It was a hologram!  
  
{Well, I guess I was wrong.} Illnith said. {but I still don't know what would be there.}  
  
{Neither do I.} I went on and got out my C-4. "Tell them to leave! I will do the rest of this myself!" I called. If they heard me, they would be gone in a few minutes.  
  
{No Problem, are you going to be alright?} she asked. I just smiled and nodded my head. I knew she would see me. She was an owl.  
  
Needless to say, I saw Jake and Marco start climbing down. {Good luck, and see you tomorrow!} Jake said cheerily. A little too cheerily.  
  
But I ignored him. Instead I got out my C-4 and went to work. I placed the bombs on the four main structural points around the outside one in the middle where all the bars cross, to really weaken it.  
  
After I put the stuff in it's place, I set the timer and flew away. I had less than a minute. When I looked around, nobody was home. No Whit, no Jake, no Marco. Just me. So I flew away as fast as I could. I didn't even watch the explosions.  
  
BOOM!!  
  
I didn't go home that night. It was becoming a habit with me, but I wasn't worried. Loyalties and love would come in time, and time was what I didn't have.  
  
So I decided to go back to the mountainside. Behind the plateau where Whitney and I stayed on our little 'vacation' was a beautiful valley. It had a waterfall and a lake and trees and forest and caves. It was an oasis in the harsh mountain.  
  
I loved that place, really, I did. But that wasn't the point.  
  
The point was that I had a job to do and I didn't know who the hell I was working for. Jake, Whitney, Illnith? Myself? It didn't matter. Time would sort it all out. The ends justify the means, I always said. Kill a thousand to save a million.  
  
On top of that, my goal helped all of the above. Jake would have one less enemy. Illnith would die happy. Whit would truly look up to me and her life would be made all the better. And I would feel the ever-pleasant feeling of accomplishment.  
  
So I guess if I had to take up arms with the enemy, it was alright. As long as I accomplished my task. Time would tell.  
  
As I dozed off, I shut off Illnith's nagging, urging voice, and I slept. I dreamed. I dreamed of failure, and success. Of fear, and loathing. And most of all, of anger, frustration. Was it a bad omen? Time would tell.  
  
As I got ready for the day, I realized something.  
  
Time was something I didn't have.  
To kill a major icon in an alien empire. To make many lives easier. To make a temporary ally die happy. To give myself eternal happiness. It was bleak.  
  
I had less than three days. 


	21. Chapter 21 Gordon

Chapter 21 (Gordon)  
  
Well, that was quite an adventure. And we made sure of it by having a meeting the next morning. Sam and Whitney were back, and we were all there. You know, except Sam. But who was I to care. The night before took a toll on all of us.  
  
So, rest assured, the next day, we were having a meeting about what happened. We were supposed to review what we have done, get a motivational speech, and get a pat on the back. Whoopdee doo.  
  
So I woke up the next morning. It was, rest assured, a chore. As opposed to fun and meaning filled. I made my way to the barn, as usual. But there was no Sam. I discovered this for the first time when I woke up. I figured he would get involved. Oh well, he would be there eventually. Maybe he was already there.  
  
But at the time, I didn't know Whitney was also back.  
  
So I morphed to peregrine falcon and flew to the infamous meeting place....the barn. As I flew, I could see that both of Cassie's parents were gone.  
  
So I flew in the hayloft, where Tobias was waiting for me. I kinda demorphed on my side, not caring about being normal. I was too damn tired for that.  
  
Tobias asked. I didn't answer. I just continued demorphing on my side. When I was finished, I just barely sat up, the entire group waiting below me.  
  
"Well, let's get on with it, I need to go home." I said sullenly. I was in a particularly grumpy mood. It wasn't until then that I noticed that Sam wasn't there. "Where's Sam?" I asked.  
  
"He isn't coming." Whitney said. I jumped down from the top and looked round. Whitney was beside Rachel on a bale of hay. Marco was on a different one. Jake was standing up, staring at me with his hands behind his back. Cassie was taking care of the animals, and Tobias was in the rafters. Ax was beside Marco.  
  
It was everything it should be. Except there was no Sam in the rafters. Yet it seemed right. I didn't know why.  
  
"Sam came and helped us last night. Then he disappeared. Nobody knows where he is." Jake said. "I kinda expected him to try and kill us, considering recent events."  
  
Whitney shook her head. "He wouldn't do that!" She cried. "For god's sake. He wouldn't do that, why would you continue to say that."  
  
But Marco butted in. "Whitney, I understand, but the problem is solved, I hope. Obviously, the Ellimist was trying to tell us something."  
  
"I know, but we have done what we needed, so can we hurry up and figure out what exactly we did?" I said. "Was there any reason we were supposed to do this now? And did we actually accomplish anything?" I said aloud.  
  
"We destroyed three major yeerk places, I think we at least made them a little worried." Rachel said.  
  
Marco laughed. "Made the yeerks afraid of a bunch of thirteen and fourteen year olds. I bet Visser Three is in his blade ship crying himself back to sleep."  
  
"Maybe not, but without any power here on earth, what chances are there that they haven't already found some way to get around it? Who says they don't have ten other kandronas waiting in the mother ship in case of such an occasion?" Cassie pointed out. "And I do want to know....Why us? Why now? What made now such an important time?"  
  
{It was the Ellimist, I doubt there was a reason. He probably has reasons of his own that don't involve us.} Ax said.  
  
THERE WAS A REASON, AND YOU WILL FIND OUT SOON. YOU MAY REST FOR A WHILE, THE YEERKS WILL HURT, BUT WILL NOT FALL. THEY DO, IN FACT, HAVE WAYS TO DEAL WITH SUCH EMERGENCIES, BUT THERE ARE A FEW WHO WILL NOT SURVIVE THE NEXT THREE DAYS. The booming voice of the Ellimist said.  
  
{Can you tell us which ones, does it matter?} Tobias asked.  
  
IT ONLY MATTERS IF YOU WANT IT TO.  
  
"Well, who was it?" Rachel asked. "Come on, who was it?" No answer.  
  
"Well, I guess that is that, let's go." Jake said. "We have had a long few days. Have a vacation." He said as he walked out.  
  
"Well, I gotta do some math homework." Marco said. "Lucky you, you don;t have to do homework." He said to me. I smiled. I guess it was true.  
  
So everyone cleared out, except me and Whitney. Cassie retreated to the other side of the barn, taking care of her horses.  
  
I noticed, though, how Whitney was kinda keeping to herself. She was hiding something. She knew where Sam was, but I didn't want to bother her about it, not with Cassie there. So I resorted to my alternate method.  
  
{You know where Sam is, don't you?} I asked gently.  
  
She nodded slowly and gently.  
  
{Do you want to talk about it? I would like to know.} I suggested.  
  
She nodded as feathers sprouted from her body. 


	22. Epilogue

Alright, the single most important part so far. We have seen clearly what 'could' happen, and likely will, if a certain someone isn't stopped. But they still refuse to believe it. Don't worry; you will see where loyalties lie in book 8 when Illnith wraps up. That is a lot, then Sam changes, because believe it or not, Illnith is Sam's friend.  
  
Oh well, I bet you have figured out a bit of nine as well, with Will being with Sam, but oh well, this will be interesting to write. So, tell me what you think of the foreshadowing and the ballistic nature of Sam. He may seem rather docile now, but that will change soon. In book 8, I promise.  
  
Runa 


End file.
